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

Quotes on government part 2

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