Quotes on Government and Liberty

"Government is never the gainer in the execution of a law  that is manifestly unjust...  Conscientious men are not the enemies, but the friends , of any government but a tyranny.  They are its strength, and not its weakness.  Daniel, in Babylon, praying contrary to the law, was the true friend and supporter of the government; while those who, in their pretended zeal fro the law and the constitution, would strike down the good man, were its real enemies.  It is only when government transcends its sphere that it comes in conflict with he consciences of men.
But it is objected that the example is corrupting,--that a bad man will violate a good law, because the good man refuses to obey a wicked law.  The cases are just as unlike as right and wrong, and any attempt to justify the one by the other is gross dishonesty.  Unquestionably, the principle can be abused by the wicked, and so can any truth whatever; but the principle of unquestioning obedience to human law is false, and needs no perversion to make it mischievous.
It should always be remembered that the great end of government is human well-being, that law and authority are nothing in themselves, and that all their sacredness arises from the uses which they serve.  The machinery of government is valuable only for the work it does; in itself, it has no value...  The most grievous of all imperfections in government is the failure to secure the just and good result...  Injustice and oppression are not made tolerable by being in strict accordance with the law.  Nothing is surer, in the end, than the reaction of such wrong to break down the most perfectly constituted government."
James H. Fairchild, Moral Philosophy, unknown date.