Governing Quotes

No man can safely govern that which would not willingly become subject.

I desire to so conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost everything, especially of government policy, is an inseparable compound of the two, so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.

right and wrong

Public sentiment is everything; with it nothing can fail, without it nothing can succeed.

public opinion public relations

He who molds the public sentiment... makes statues and decisions possible or impossible to make.

public relations

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.

public relations

You philosophers are lucky men.  You write on paper and paper is patient.  Unfortunate Empress that I am, I write on the susceptible skins of living beings.

philosophy