Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.
Grover ClevelandRead
Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The government should maintain a distance from dependency on its citizens, promoting self-reliance.
This quote suggests that while citizens may support their government, it is not the government's role to overly intervene or provide for the people's needs. Instead, citizens should strive for independence and self-sufficiency, relying on their own abilities and resources rather than expecting government support.
Themes
GovernmentSupportSelf-RelianceIndependenceCitizens
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate discussing the role of government in citizens' lives.
More from Grover Cleveland
All quotes βUnswerving loyalty to duty, constant devotion to truth, and a clear conscience will overcome every discouragement and surely lead the way to usefulness and high achievement.
Grover ClevelandRead
Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, exercises a public trust.
Grover ClevelandRead
It is the responsibility of the citizens to support their government. It is not the responsibility of the government to support its citizens.
Grover ClevelandRead
Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again.
Grover ClevelandRead
The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their government, its functions do not include the support of the people.
Grover ClevelandRead
Similar quotes
If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it.
Woodrow WilsonRead
I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny-fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear.
Margaret Chase SmithRead
I have people ask me if I'm going to convince my daughters to be Democrats, and I say, 'I have yet to convince my daughters to close a door.' I don't how in the world I would ever convince them to be in a political affiliation.
James CarvilleRead
The west was involved in toppling the Mossadegh government. That ultimately led to the Iranian revolution.
Salman RushdieRead
Democracy is an imperfect way of steering between the violence of anarchy and the violence of tyranny, with the least violence you can get away with.
Steven PinkerRead
'Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?' No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country.
Edward Everett HaleRead