Let men learn that a legislature is not 'our God upon earth,' though, by the authority they ascribe to it, and the things they expect from it, they would seem to think it is. Let them learn rather that it is an institution serving a purely temporary purpose, whose power, when not stolen, is at the best borrowed.
Herbert SpencerThe cruelty of a Fijian god, who, represented as devouring the souls of the dead, may be supposed to inflict torture during the process, is small compared with the cruelty of a God who condemns men to tortures which are eternal.
Herbert SpencerIn assuming any office besides its essential one, the State begins to lose the power of fulfilling its essential one.
Herbert SpencerOld forms of government finally grow so oppressive that they must be thrown off even at the risk of reigns of terror.
Herbert Spencer