It issaid that England invented the phrase,'Her Majesty's Opposition'; that it was the first government which made a criticism of administration as much a part of the polityas administration itself. 51

-Bagehot,Walter
  The English Constitution, ch.2,'The Cabinet'.

  All this will not be finished in the first100 days, nor will it be finished in the first1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administrationönor even, perhaps, in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

-Kennedy,John F(itzgerald)
  Inaugural address, Washington, 20  Jan.

If the roads, the railways, the banks, the insurance offices, the great joint-stockcompanies, the universities, and the public charities, were all of them branches of government; if, in addition, the municipal corporations and local boards, with all that now devolves on them, became departments of the central administration; if the employees of all these different enterprises were appointed and paid by the government, and looked to the government for every rise in life; not all the freedom of the press and popular constitution of the legislature would make this or any other country free otherwise than in name.

-Mill,John Stuart
  On Liberty.

There are senseless dreams of the participation of local government representatives in the affairs of internal administration.Ishall maintaintheprinciple of autocracy just as firmlyand unflinchingly as it was upheld by my own, ever to be remembered dead father.

-Nicholas II
  Declaration,17  Jan.

You may call it coalition, you may call it the accidental and fortuitous concurrence of atoms†but when gentlemen are in the habit of finding themselves in the same Lobby, it is not unnatural to suppose that they may, under certain circumstances, be ready to unite themselves together for the purpose of forming an Administration and becoming responsible for the opinions that they severally entertain.

-Palmerston, HenryJohnTemple, 3rd Viscount
  Speech on the rumoured Palmerston^Disraeli coalition, 5 Mar.

It is a fatal defect of current principles of administration that, like proverbs, they occur in pairs. For almost every principle one can find an equally plausible and acceptable contradictory principle. Although the two principles of the pair will lead to exactly opposite recommendations, there is nothing in the theory to indicate which is the appropriate one to apply.

-Simon, Herbert A
  Administrative Behavior.

It gave me a great notion of the credit of our present government and administration, to find people press as eagerly to pay moneyas they would to receive it; and, at the same time, a due respect for that body of men who have found out so pleasing an expedient for carrying on the common cause, that they have turned a tax into a diversion.

-Stein, Gertrude
  On the first state lottery of1710. In theTatler, no.124, 24 Jan.

So long as the law considers all these human beings, with beating heartsand living affections,onlyassomany things belonging tothemasteröso long asthefailure, or misfortune, or imprudence, or death of the kindest owner, may cause them any day to exchange a life of kind protection and indulgence for one of hopeless miseryand toilöso long is it impossible to make anything beautiful or desirable in the best-regulated administration of slavery.

-Stowe, Harriet (Elizabeth) ne¤  e Beecher
  UncleTom's Cabin, ch.1.

The foundation of the government of a nation must be built upon the rights of the people, but the administration must be entrusted to experts.We must not look upon those experts as stately and grand presidents and ministers, but simply as our chauffeurs, guards at the gate, cooks, physicians, carpenters, or tailors.

-SunYat-Sen or  SunYixian
  TheThree Principles of the People.

It is alleged indeed, that the high heels are most agreeable to our ancient constitution: but however this be, his Majesty hath determined tomake use of only low heels in the administration of the government.

-Swift,Jonathan
  Gulliver'sTravels,'A Voyage to Lilliput', ch.4.

However many people may complain about the'red tape', it would be sheer illusion to think for a moment that continuous administrative work can be carried out in any field except by means of officials working in offices† The choice is only that between bureaucracy and dilettantism in the field of administration.

-Weber, Max
  Collected in Guenther Roth and ClausWittich (eds) Economy and Society (1978), ch.3.