Quotes on government
Government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem. – Ronald Reagan
The best government is that which governs least. – Thomas Jefferson
The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. – Ronald Reagan
The government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. – Ronald Reagan
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington
The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much. – Ronald Reagan
The government is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public’s money. – Ronald Reagan
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. – Ronald Reagan
In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free. – Edward Gibbon
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. – Thomas Jefferson
A good government implies two things: fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained. – James Madison
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington
The government does not create jobs. It creates the conditions that make jobs more or less likely. – Milton Friedman
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. – Milton Friedman
Governments never learn. Only people learn. – Milton Friedman
The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. – Ronald Reagan
The government’s power to tax is the power to destroy. – John Marshall
The government is best which governs least. – Henry David Thoreau
The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing. – Jean-Baptiste Colbert
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. – Thomas Jefferson
The government is us; we are the government, you and I. – Theodore Roosevelt
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. – Thomas Paine
Government is an unnecessary evil. Human beings, when accustomed to taking responsibility for their own behavior, can cooperate on a basis of mutual trust and helpfulness. – Fred Foldvary
The government cannot give anything to anybody that the government does not first take from somebody else. – Adrian Rogers
No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. – Mark Twain
Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. – Frederic Bastiat
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But, if men be bad, if they covetous, or ambitious, or neglectful, the government will be accordingly. – William Penn
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. – Plato
The government is merely a servant?merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. – Mark Twain
If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other. – Carl Schurz
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill
The best way to measure the success of a government is not by how many people it helps, but how many it gets out of the way. – Kurt Schlichter
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. – George Bernard Shaw
The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money. – Margaret Thatcher
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. – Winston Churchill
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. – Plato
An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger. – Confucius
The government is the people’s servant, not the people’s master. – Winston Churchill
The welfare of the people is the ultimate law. – Cicero
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. – Martin Luther King Jr.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. – Thomas Jefferson
The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. – Joseph Stalin
The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it. – Mark Twain
Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure. – Robert LeFevre
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. – George Bernard Shaw
The greatest enemy of freedom is a happy slave. – Jacques Deval
Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative. – John Stuart Mill
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington
The best government is one that governs least, but not too little. – Thomas Jefferson