Honest opinion about government from Samuel Johnson:
Most of the misery which the defamation of blameless actions or the obstruction of honest endeavors brings upon the world is inflicted by men that propose no advantage to themselves but the satisfaction of poisoning the banquet which they cannot taste, and blasting the harvest which they have no right to reap.
The Rambler, 1751
English author, poet, and lexicographer, Samuel Johnson is perhaps most famous for his pioneering Dictionary of the English Language (1755), which established the practice of clarifying definitions by quotations from leading authors. He wrote many other works, including The Rambler essays (1750-1752), the satirical Rasselas (1759)–a fictional assault on metaphysical optimism–and Lives of the English Poets (1779-1781). His political views were very much like those of Edmund Burke: conservative, traditional, and distrustful of popular upheavals. Johnson was immortalized by his biographer James Boswell, who wrote Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).
Quotation and short bio from The Quotable Conservative: The Giants of Conservatism on Liberty, Freedom, Individual Responsibility, and Traditional Values. Rod L. Evans and Irwin M. Berent, editors. Holbrook, Mass.: Adams Publishing, 1996.