Good Governance Quotes

You need a president whom you can trust, someone who will not steal your money, a president who is sincere, brave and just.

I am opposed to socialism because it dreams ingenuously of good, truth, beauty, and equal rights.

When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty.

Albania has to demonstrate that it is willing to be a reliable partner in the international community.

Government ought to be all outside and no inside.... Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.

The Muslim world needs democracy. It wants democracy. But it should be real democracy and not just democracy by name only... Democracy has done some good things. It has saved humanity from despots and dictators who act like gods. The details should be left to the people. Let them decide for themselves

A good law is one that holds, whether you recognize it or not; a bad law is one that cannot, however much you ordain it.

Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so.

Accountability goes hand in hand with reform.

You can no more have a fool as a king than a blind man to lead you along the road

...no country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more.

An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere.

The responsibility for good government lies not just with governments themselves but also with every other part of the system they operate in, including media, non-governmental organisations and the public.

With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help.

I sincerely wish we could see our government so secured as to depend less on the character of the person in whose hands it is trusted. Bad men will sometimes get in and with such an immense patronage may make great progress in corrupting the public mind and principles.

Throughout my career, I have made rooting out public corruption a top priority.

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

Our democracy... is only as good as the American people demand it should be.

History has tried hard to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians.

With few exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new developing countries. What Asians value may not necessarily be what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural backround, my values are for a government which is honest, effective and efficient.

There are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows.

In terms of competitiveness of new global environment, Kenya will have absolutely no choice but to tackle the most important constraint to its development: it has been corruption.

And my whole life I've been focused on questions of anti-corruption laws, on constitutional law, and it's essential that the power of this office be maximized to stop corruption at the national level.