They that govern the most make the least noise.
John Selden

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.
Benjamin Franklin

Those who own the country ought to govern it.
John Jay

Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.
Charles de Secondat

Thus, the Archivist must display at all times scrupulous independence and a devotion to the laws and principles which govern the responsibilities of the office.
Allen Weinstein

To administer is to govern: to govern is to reign. That is the essence of the problem.
Honore Gabriel Riquet

To govern is always to choose among disadvantages.
Charles de Gaulle

To govern is to choose. To appear to be unable to choose is to appear to be unable to govern.
Nigel Lawson

To govern mankind, one must not overrate them.
Lord Chesterfield

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.
Vladimir Lenin

We must govern from the middle, or we will not be able to govern at all.
Tom Daschle

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
James Madison

What is new is that environmentalism intensely illuminates the need to confront the corporate domain at its most powerful and guarded point - the exclusive right to govern the systems of production.
Barry Commoner

What the government has to do, if it wants to govern for any length of time, is it must appeal primarily to the third parties in the House of Commons to get them to support it.
Stephen Harper

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Who of us knows or can by possibility arrive at a knowledge of the laws that govern our property and lives?
William H. Wharton

Who, then, will govern? The answer must be, Man - for we have no angels in the shape of men, as yet, who are willing to take charge of our political affairs.
Andrew Johnson

Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.
William James

Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.
G. I. Gurdjieff