Government Quotes
Jefferson leads this page, followed by Milton Friedman, Robert LeFevre and Lincoln. Most of it is political philosophy, with a few jokes mixed in: P. J. O’Rourke in Parliament of Whores (1991) says giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys, and Will Rogers, in 1935, said a comedian needs no credit when the whole government is working for him.
Two well-known lines are flagged. “Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants” is credited to William Penn, but the oldest wording the notes cite is from a 1949 speech by Norman Vincent Peale. The one about a government big enough to give you everything being big enough to take it away is credited to Barry Goldwater, and the notes point to older versions of it.
The country has, I think, made up its mind to close this career of plundering and blundering.
All your strength is in your union,
All your danger is in discord.
The government will not free us, and is part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away.
We must judge of a form of government by its general tendency, not by happy accidents.
Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may.
Say to the seceded States, "Wayward sisters, depart in peace."
The system … is the best that the present views and circumstances of the country will permit.
In a change of government the poor change nothing but the name of their masters.
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.
How, in one house,
Should many people, under two commands,
Hold amity? 'Tis hard; almost impossible.