“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.”

“A pure democracy is generally a very bad government, It is often the most tyrannical government on earth; for a multitude is often rash, and will not hear reason.”

“What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”

“If only one person were perfectly informed there could never be a general crisis. But the only perfectly informed person is God, and he does not play the stock market.”

“Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of government is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is the history of the limitation of government, not the increase of it.”

“Public access to government information is a fundamental prerequisite to a functioning democracy. A democratic system is based on the notion that government legitimacy requires the consent of the governed. To be meaningful that consent must be informed.”