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.

Random quote on Government

Most quoted on government:

Any government whose members commit this crime, or authorize it in their subordinates, has betrayed its function.

Simone Weil Draft for a Statement of Human Obligation (1943)

Google’s more powerful than any government now – people think it’s God. They’re storing all our data and one day they’re going to turn against us.

M.I.A.

Noah set up a system of government where if somebody kills somebody, y'all get together and kill him. That's perfectly fine, it's just, it's right.

Kent Hovind

Democracies are dangerous forms of government. They always become dictatorships; and they almost always talk about this universal health care.

Kent Hovind Creation seminars (2003)

If the individual has a right to govern himself, all external government is tyranny. Hence the necessity of abolishing the State.

Benjamin Tucker State Socialism and Anarchism: How Far They Agree, and Wherin They Differ (1888)