Character Quote by George Washington

It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people.

— Richard Henry Lee

[V]irtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.

— George Washington

Virtue is necessary to a republic.

— Baron de Montesquieu

The eyes of mankind will be upon you to see whether the Government, which is now more popular than it has been for many…

— Samuel Adams

“when the highest virtues of mankind cannot be accomplished fully through voluntary actions, the greater good demands that the government compel people to do…

— S.W. Southwick

“Morality is inseparable from freedom. Only free conduct is moral conduct. By negating freedom, and thus the possibility of choice, a dictatorship contains in…

— Alija Izetbegović

That the foundation of our national policy should be laid in private morality. If individuals be not influenced by moral principles, it is in…

— James Madison

“The first word of any constitutional oath of public office by an elected politician should be morality! For only then can the foundations of…

— Alastair Agutter

The object of every free government is the public good, and all lesser interests yield to it. That of every tyrannical government, is the…

— Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger

“Political liberty—that is, the ability of societies to rule themselves—does not depend only on the degree to which a society can mobilize opposition to…

— Francis Fukuyama

Good government is the outcome of private virtue.

— John Jay Chapman

Morality is the object of government.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson