“The best government is that which governs least.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” – Ronald Reagan
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.” – Gerald Ford
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” – Winston Churchill
“The government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.” – Thomas Jefferson
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Good government is no substitute for self-government.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” – Ronald Reagan
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” – Edmund Burke
“The essence of government is power, and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” – James Madison
“The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
“The government is us; we are the government, you and I.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity.” – Martin Van Buren
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one.” – Alexander Hamilton
“The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.” – Andrew Jackson
“Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” – Otto von Bismarck
“It is not the responsibility of the government or the legal system to protect a citizen from himself.” – Justice Casey Percell
“The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.” – Thomas Jefferson
“No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.” – Abraham Lincoln
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.” – Edward Abbey
“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Governments never learn. Only people learn.” – Milton Friedman
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.” – Learned Hand
“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” – Ronald Reagan
“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 power of the government comes from the consent of the governed.” – John Locke
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord Acton
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher
“The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.” – Voltaire
“A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.” – George Washington
“The government that governs best, governs least.” – John L. O’Sullivan
“Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought.” – Lord Acton
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” – Proverbs 29:18
“In free governments, the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns.” – Benjamin Franklin
“The happiness of society is the end of government.” – John Adams
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” – Ronald Reagan
“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” – Confucius
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” – Winston Churchill
“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” – Voltaire
“The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.” – George Washington
“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” – Thomas Paine
“The purpose of government is to restrain evil and promote justice.” – Augustine of Hippo
“The true test of government is its ability to protect the weakest members of society.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.” – Aristotle