Ezra Taft Benson Quotes

The state can be a force for good. The Rule of law is absolutely essential to a good life. God has instituted government and leaders throughout history and throughout the Biblical narrative. However, the state is growing precisely as the church is fading as a force for good, and this does not seem to be a good trend.

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years.

Government is not the enemy. Government is simply a tool that can be used wisely or unwisely.

What is the purpose of the government? When you examine most political debates, you usually find that question at the bedrock. What makes a government good? What makes one effective? What is government supposed to do, and what shouldn’t it do? The reason we disagree so much about politics is often because we hold different theories about what the purpose of government is.

The final end of government is not to exert restraint but to do good.

Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and trustees are created for the benefit of the public.

We need a President who is more interested in being right and just than being President.

When the government leads by the right example, who dares to go astray.

If a ruler is just he must have acquired power properly and used it properly.

The proper function of a government is to make it easy for the people to do good, and difficult for them to do evil.

Good governance with good intentions is the hallmark of our government. Implementation with integrity is our core passion.

Margaret Thatcher in Britain and soon after Ronald Reagan in the United States - both hard-line advocates of market fundamentalism - announced that there was no such thing as society and that government was the problem not the solution. Democracy and the political process were all but sacrificed to the power of corporations and the emerging financial service industries, just as hope was appropriated as an advertisement for a whitewashed world in which the capacity of culture to critique oppressive social practices was greatly diminished.

Government should do a few things, and do them right

In a word, if this country can steer clear of European politics, stand firm on its bottom, and be wise and temperate in its government, it bids fair to be one of the greatest and happiest nations in the world.

A world is supported by four things: the learning of wise, the justice of great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.

A politician before he can become a statesman has to remain in office long enough.

History has tried hard to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians. Now, to go and stick one at the very head of the government couldn't be wise.

Wise politicians will be cautious about fettering the government with restrictions that cannot be observed, because they know that every break of the fundamental laws, though dictated by necessity, impairs that sacred reverence which ought to be maintained in the breast of rulers towards the constitution of a country.

Govern wisely, and as little as possible

The government that is wise will consider what is best for all its people.

Whenever you come across a screw-up this big, you know the government is behind it.

The government is merely a servant―merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

The state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good.

A wise man is a greater asset to a nation than a king.

A profound common sense is the best genius for statesmanship.