Governance Issues Quotes

No state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.

If you can't control these rumheads when you're their candidate, how the hell do you expect to control them if you become President?

One-man-one-vote is a most difficult form of government.. Results can be erratic.

The media are not progressive enough to let us govern. 24/7 news is the worst thing that has happened to the ability to govern.

In the end the problem isn't that you have the wrong sort of government for the People, but that you have the wrong sort of People.

Many punishments sometimes, and in some cases, as much discredit a prince as many funerals a physician.

The great political questions are in their final analysis great moral questions.

I was much an enemy to monarchies before I came to Europe. I am ten thousand times more so, since I have seen what they are. There is scarcely an evil known in these countries, which may not be traced to their king, as its source, nor a good, which is not derived from the small fibres of republicanism existing among them.

Addressing governance issues are important because whichever silo you work in, be it education, microfinance, sanitation, food or health, you would eventually hit governance deficit.

It has always been a most arduous task to govern distant provinces, with even a tolerable appearance of justice.

Running a democratic country is one of the most difficult things for any government.

The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.

Canada is not so much a country as a continental suburb, where Little Leaguers govern ineffectually, desperate for American approval.

Africa is poor because she is not free.

He [previous President Uribe] has criticized this government for unveiling a lot of corruption: he thinks it is an attack on his government. But I have said no, it is not an attack on his government, it is an attack on the corrupt people, and I will continue to do that.

You can’t govern a country on charisma.

Having been governor of New Mexico, I know that legislation gets passed to benefit those who have money and influence. Then they buy more money and influence. That's one reason why, as governor, I vetoed more than 750 bills and thousands of line items. I did it to keep crony capitalism away from government.

Congressional sloth in recent years has hit mind-boggling new lows. It’s partly systemic, rooted in a mandatory spending regime that accounts for two-thirds of government dollars and runs on autopilot. That disconnect now imbues every aspect of governance. In the nearly 50 years since Congress created our current system of budgeting and appropriations, it’s managed to complete the process correctly four times. It last did so 25 years ago. The default is massive omnibus bills that are passed hours after release, minutes before the government shuts down for lack of funds.

A difficult regional situation doesn't justify one man's determination to hold onto power. It's clear to me that democratization is a very complicated process.

Mankind has failed miserably in its effort to devise a rational system of government. [...] The art of government is the exclusive possession of quacks and frauds. It has been so since the earliest days, and it will probably remain so until the end of time.

The Senate trying to govern cyberspace is analogous to King George believing he could still govern the colonies even though he had never been there.

Democracies are at least contemporarily fickle and heartless.

I was elected prime minister in 2014 under incredibly difficult circumstances: A third of the country was overrun by terrorists, the economy was struggling, people were divided by sectarianism, and relations with the wider world were strained.