evidence: Fake olds: 'Government is not reason, it is not eloquence—it is force' is probably not a real George Washington quote [...] Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. [...] Given this, it would have been odd for someone to say "Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master," with negative qualifiers both for servant and master, when the proverb had a positive for the servant but a negative for the master. Of course, the point of the proverb was that fire is indeed dangerous—but the dangerousness was conveyed by implication from "bad master" and was counterposed to the value stressed by "good servant."