"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."
— Government

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Government
Original Language: English

Sources

Attributed to George Washington in the "Liberty and Government" by "WM", published in the Christian Science Journal vol XX no 8 (Nov 1902) p 465. This can be found with minor variations in wording and in punctuation (and with "fearful" for "troublesome,"), in Frank J. Wilstach, A Dictionary of Similes, 2d ed., p. 526 (1924) and in George Seldes, The Great Quotations, p. 727 (1966). Reported as unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989). In his most recent book of quotat