Accomplished Quote by Algernon Sidney
“If the public safety be provided, liberty and propriety secured, justice administered, virtue encouraged, vice suppressed, and the true interest of the nation advanced, the ends of government are accomplished . . .”
About This Quote
Source Treat: Discourses Concerning Government, 1698
A government succeeds when it protects safety, liberty, justice, virtue, and the nation's true interests.
In simple terms: Government works when it secures safety, liberty, justice, virtue, and national interest.
Key Takeaway
Ensure policies protect safety, liberty, and justice.
Themes
government
justice
virtue
public safety
national interest
Mood
serious
reflective
Type
political
philosophical
When to use this quote
- policy making
- law enforcement
- public administration
- citizen rights
Key Concepts
political philosophy
social contract
Questions to Reflect On
- How can liberty be preserved while ensuring security?
- What measures best promote virtue in society?
A Different Perspective
Balancing liberty and security can be contentious.
![“[A]ll popular and well-mixed governments [republics] . . . are ever established by wise and good men, and can never be upheld otherwise than by virtue: The worst men always conspiring against them, they must fall, if the best have not power to preserve them. . . . [and] unless they be preserved in…” quote by Algernon Sidney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1c1/algernon-sidney-20606_conspiring_a-ll-popular-and-well-mixed-governments_696129.jpg)
![“[L]iberty cannot be preserved, if the manners of the people are corrupted . . .” quote by Algernon Sidney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/65d/algernon-sidney-20606_freedom_l-iberty-cannot-be-preserved-if-the-mann_1577380.jpg)
![“[U]nless oppressed groups stick together, and on alliances of self interest rather than do-goodism; nothing can be accomplished in the long run to dismantle the apparatus of oppression.” quote by Shulamith Firestone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d7b/shulamith-firestone-12980_accomplished_u-nless-oppressed-groups-stick-together_5485.jpg)
