Thomas Carlyle Quotes
Government is emphatically a machine: to the discontented a "taxing machine," to the contented a "machine for securing property.
Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish essayist and historian, Member of Parliament, Edinburgh Review, No. 98
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Referring to Motor Vehicles Commissions and Departments:
This is an oratorical extension of the famous quotation of Oliver Wendell Homes Jr. See {603708}
The phrase is carved above the entrance to the IRS Headquarters in Washington DC
At the time, the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party had refused to compromise on anything and many saw as their primary objective was to make sure that the Democratic President was not successful with any of his legislative program. There was gridlock and divided government had become paralyzed government. Buffet and most other Americans were fed up with the gridlock and wanted Congress to start compromising and solving problems.
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish historian, satirical writer, essayist, translator, philosopher, mathematician, and teacher. In his book On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (1841), he argued that the actions of the "Great Man" play a key role in history, claiming that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men". Other major works include The French Revolution: A History, 3 vols (1837) and The History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, 6 vols (1858–65).
