Arthur Eddington Quotes

Who watches the watchmen?

Trust is fine, but control is better.

Tasmania needs a watchdog, not a lap dog.

Oversight was not meant to be comfortable.

But who guards the guardians?

Gotta watch out for directors.

Surveillance of power is one of the most important ways to ensure that power does not abuse its status. But, of course, power does not like to be watched.

Big Brother doesn't like all these Little Brothers looking at it.

Power has to be insecure to be responsive.

Governance is a way of organizing, amplifying, and constraining power.

You always hear about delegation, but people make the mistake of delegating and not following up. I give authority, but I stay in touch. Otherwise it doesn't work.

Privacy is tremendously important. I believe the American people, and all people, should be skeptical of government power, should ask hard questions: What is the authority? What is the oversight? That's the way it ought to be.

The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious.

Is the Justice Department incapable of regulating itself? Without strong regulation, the privileges we give them to investigate us, to conduct their normal anti-crime things, can spiral out of control.

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

The concept of surveillance is ingrained in our beings. God was the original surveillance camera.

Democracy is the fig leaf of elitism.

Boards are screens. What “the Board” does is the act of nobody; and nobody can be made to answer for it.

There is a fine line between constructive oversight and unconstructive meddling.

We like to keep an eye on the rascals.

Who is to guard the guards themselves? Quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

Power should be a check to power.

The more authority a person asks for in a democracy, the less privacy they’re entitled to.

I believe there's something out there watching over us. Unfortunately, it's the government

The word to regulate implies in its nature full power over the thing to be regulated, it excludes, necessarily, the action of all others that would perform the same operation on the same thing.