Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Government
A government tumbling and drifting on the whirlpool and mud-deluges, floating atop in a conspicuous manner, no whither, like the carcass of a drowned ass.
—Thomas Carlyle
But when a government is grown in strength,
Like some old oak, rough with its armed bark,
It yields not to the tug, but only nods,
And turns to sullen state.
—John Dryden
Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence.
—Thomas Paine