Government Quotes

I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas.
– Ron Paul
I am honored that my freshman class colleagues have put their trust in me to represent our historic class at the leadership table. The incoming freshman class of Representatives is large and diverse but we share many common goals including cutting wasteful spending, getting our economy back on track and making government smarter and more efficient.
– Kristi Noem
I am going to confront the old-fashioned negative thinking which says that all government needs to do to generate growth is cut worker and environmental protections, cut taxes on the rich and stroke 'fat cats' until they purr with pleasure. I'm completely repudiating the idea that government has to get out of the way.
– Vince Cable
I am extremely proud of my service with the government and my efforts to help safeguard public health and protect our country against the scourge of offensive biological warfare.
– Steven Hatfill
I am encouraged that there's going to be much better dialogue between the federal government and the state of Arizona. I mean, I hope that's not wishful thinking.
– Jan Brewer
I also believe that government has no business telling us how we should live our lives. I think our lifestyle choices should be left up to us. What we do in our private lives is none of the government's business. That position rules out the Republican Party for me.
– Jesse Ventura
I actually share her view and understand her frustration when any government attempts to ban secular symbols like Santa Claus or Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Christmas lights.
– Steve Israel
History has shown us that, on extraordinarily rare occasions, it becomes necessary for the federal government to intervene on behalf of individuals whose 14th Amendment rights to legal due process and equal protection may be violated by a state.
– Michael K. Simpson
Hispanic unemployment is higher than the national average and when the federal government is killing small businesses and killing jobs it is hurting the future of the Hispanic community and we need to carry that message.
– Ted Cruz
Here, again, as I conceive, gentlemen forget that this government is a republican one, resting exclusively in the intelligence and virtue of the People.
– Caleb Cushing
Had the United States and the United Kingdom gone on alone to capture Baghdad, under the provisions of the Geneva and Hague conventions we would have been considered occupying powers and therefore would have been responsible for all the costs of maintaining or restoring government, education and other services for the people of Iraq.
– Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Great research universities must insist on independence from government and on the exercise of academic freedom.
– Alan Dershowitz
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one.
– Thomas Paine
Government's role should be only to keep the playing field level, and to work hand in hand with business on issues such as employment. But beyond this, to as great an extent as possible, it should get the hell out of the way.
– Jesse Ventura
Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands, and perpetuate its institutions.
– William Godwin
Government health care changes the relationship between the citizen and the state, and, in fact, I think it's an assault on citizenship.
– Mark Steyn
Government has the role of suiting people for freedom. People aren't made for freedom spontaneously. There's sort of a 19-year race between when people are born and when they become adults. And government has a role in making them, at the end of 19 years, suited to be upright, trustworthy repositories of popular sovereignty.
– George Will
Full participation in government and society has been a basic right of the country symbolizing the full citizenship and equal protection of all.
– Charles Rangel
From computers to information technology to airplanes, it has been America's unique blend of republican government and free-market capitalism that has allowed us to surpass all other nations in history.
– George Nethercutt
From coast to coast, the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission have ensnared people not only at hedge funds, but at technology and pharmaceutical companies, consulting and law firms, government agencies, and even a major stock exchange.
– Preet Bharara
From 1836, down to last year, there is no proof of the Government having any confidence in the duration of peace, or possessing increased security against war.
– Richard Cobden
Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party - though they are quite numerous - is no freedom at all.
– Rosa Luxemburg
Freedom of expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy.
– Corazon Aquino
Freedom isn't free. It shouldn't be a bragging point that 'Oh, I don't get involved in politics,' as if that makes someone cleaner. No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.
– Bill Maher
For wide swaths of training and education there are valuable spillovers which mean that the private sector needs support from the government. That is why I have been so determined to protect and grow apprenticeships and put higher education on a sustainable footing.
– Vince Cable
For over 15 years, through the clean coal programs of the Department of Energy, the Federal Government has been a solid partner, working jointly with private companies and the states to develop and demonstrate a new generation of environmentally clean technology using coal.
– Tim Holden
For most Americans, Friday afternoons are filled with positive anticipation of the weekend. In Washington, it's where government officials dump stories they want to bury. Good news gets dropped on Monday so bureaucrats can talk about it all week.
– John Sununu
Folks, the most insidious part of this whole health care scheme is that all of these vast medical expenditures will become nothing more than government budget items. We individuals will no longer exist. The relationship between a government and citizen will change forever.
– Rush Limbaugh
First, take the government of the Indians out of politics second, let the laws of the Indians be the same as those of the whites third, give the Indian the ballot.
– George Crook
Financial institutions, the corporate world and civil society - all must uphold high standards of probity in their working. Only a genuine partnership between the Government and its people can bring about positive change to create a just society.
– Pratibha Patil
Failure to properly control our borders costs citizens in many ways: schools become overcrowded, medical resources are stretched too thin, other government services are overtaxed, and taxes increase further.
– Zach Wamp
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
– Thomas Jefferson
Everybody keeps saying that India's a poor country. Yes, we have poverty. But I blame the government of India, the political establishment, for their failure to educate and therefore their failure to control the poverty.
– Vijay Mallya
Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.
– George Mason
Every president needs to deal with the permanent government of the country, and the permanent government of the country is Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats and the questions becomes what is the relationship between that president and Wall Street.
– Cornel West
Every person has only so much attention to give, and politics and government takes up only a fraction of what it did 25 years ago.
– Robert Teeter
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
– Thomas Jefferson
Embryonic stem cell research is legal in America, and nothing in the administration's current policy affects that legality 400 lines are currently being used to conduct embryonic stem cell research, both in the private sector and by the Federal Government.
– Roger Wicker
Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.
– Dalton Trumbo
Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
– Tom Robbins
Dependency is death to initiative, to risk-taking and opportunity. It's time to stop the spread of government dependency and fight it like the poison it is.
– Mitt Romney
Democrats think the country works better with a strong middle class, real opportunities for poor people to work their way into it and a relentless focus on the future, with business and government working together to promote growth and broadly shared prosperity. We think 'we're all in this together' is a better philosophy than 'you're on your own.'
– William J. Clinton
Democrats believe we must have comprehensive health care reform that includes giving the federal government authority to negotiate lower prices with drug companies.
– Jim Clyburn
Could a government dare to set out with happiness as its goal? Now that there are accepted scientific proofs, it would be easy to audit the progress of national happiness annually, just as we monitor money and GDP.
– Polly Toynbee
Conservatives shouldn't count on the Supreme Court to do our work for us on Obamacare. The Court may rule as it should, and strike down the mandate. But it may not. And even if it does, the future of health care in America - and for that matter, the future of limited government - depends ultimately on the verdict of the American people.
– Bill Kristol
Conservatism is a hard choice for a society that has become accustomed to big government and big entitlements promoted by liberals.
– Jesse Helms
Civil marriage, like all civil rights provided by the government, must be provided equally to all Americans.
– Benjamin Todd Jealous
China's idea of fair trade is government subsidies of its textile and apparel exports to the United States, currency manipulation, and forgiveness of loans by its government banks.
– Virginia Foxx
Canadians know that the promise of a recession didn't happen because of anything we did here. If you look at all the causes of the recession, problems in mortgage markets, the problems in the banking sector, the problems in government finance in countries like Greece, none of those problems were in present Canada.
– Stephen Harper
But instead of standing up for reason, our government is handing education over to the world of faith.
– Polly Toynbee
But how odd that in this heathen nation of empty pews, where churches' bare, ruined choirs are converted into luxury loft living, a Labour government - yes, a Labour government - is deliberately creating a huge expansion of faith schools.
– Polly Toynbee
Britain, relative to the U.S., is a highly secular society. Philanthropy alone cannot fill the gap left by government cutbacks. And the sources of altruism go deep into our evolutionary past.
– Jonathan Sacks
Both the American people and nations that censor the internet should understand that our government is committed to helping promote internet freedom.
– Hillary Clinton
Besides the healthcare bill being unconstitutional and a great expansion of federal government, I think if it does not respect people's individual religious views and makes groups or individuals do things that are contrary to their deeply held beliefs, there is going to be a visceral negative reaction.
– Bob McDonnell
Before this government came to power, many failing schools were simply allowed to drift on in a pattern of continuing failure. The government is determined to break that pattern and is successfully doing so.
– Estelle Morris
Because what happens is, as the economy suffers, tax revenues go down. But unlike businesses, where at least your variable costs go down, in government your variable costs go up: unemployment insurance, workmen's compensation, health care benefits, welfare, you name it.
– Meg Whitman
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.
– Will Rogers
Back in 1983, the United States government approved the release of the first genetically modified organism. In this case, it was a bacteria that prevents frost on food crops.
– Jeremy Rifkin
As our country increasingly relies on electronic information storage and communication, it is imperative that our Government amend our information security laws accordingly.
– Jo Ann Davis
As everyone in Louisiana knows, there was often no communication or coordination between the state and federal government in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
– Bobby Jindal
And we can celebrate when we have a government that has earned back the trust of the people it serves... when we have a government that honors our Constitution and stands up for the values that have made America, America: economic freedom, individual liberty, and personal responsibility.
– John Boehner
And under the existing circumstances, I understand there are situations where people indeed need care and need services, but I believe in America that the majority of those people are getting those services under situations and circumstances that are afforded to them by their health care providers and their state government.
– Jan Brewer
And think of how we challenged the idea of a male dominated Parliament with All-Women shortlists and made the cause of gender equality central to our government. We were right to do so.
– Ed Miliband
And that's really what's happening in this country is a violation of the First Commandment. We have become a country entrenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government. We're supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not for our government.
– Sharron Angle
And just when we were at the end of our design process there was the news that the Italian government and the U.S. government had signed an agreement to fly the first Italian astronaut on that flight.
– Umberto Guidoni
And in terms of their crown jewel legislative achievement: who knew that when asked, 'will government impose a new federal mandate requiring middle class Americans to buy health insurance whether they can afford it or not?' The answer would be 'Yes we can!'
– Artur Davis
And I keep saying, whether you like the president or not, everybody has to pull together and help the president because, as the president goes, so goes the country, as the country goes, so goes your job, your ability to feed your family, your government.
– Michael Bloomberg
An order of government, established by such an all-wise, powerful being, must be good and perfect, and must be calculated to promote the permanent peace, happiness, and well-being of all his subjects.
– Orson Pratt
An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery.
– Joseph Pulitzer
Americans should be free to recognize our religious heritage doing that is not the same as creating a government-sponsored religion.
– Ernest Istook
Americans oppose Obamacare because they understand that it is inconsistent with our liberties and our idea of limited government and that it will destroy the best health care system in the world.
– David Limbaugh
Americans different in some maybe thoughts or emphasis still have the same ideas. They want a government that lets them be free, that leaves them alone, that doesn't interrupt and interfere with every aspect of their life, that lets them go to work and keep more of what they've worked hard to have.
– Mike Huckabee
Americans cannot maintain their essential faith in government if there are two Americas, in which the private sector's work subsidizes the disproportionate benefits of this new public sector elite.
– Mortimer Zuckerman
American government was founded on a belief and a faith in God and in doing what is right and just.
– Ginny Brown-Waite
America traditionally represents the greatest possibility of someone's going from nothing to something. Why? In theory, if not practice, the government stays out of the way and lets individuals take risks and reap rewards or accept the consequences of failure. We call this capitalism - or, at least, we used to.
– Larry Elder
America needs jobs, smaller government, less spending and a president with the courage to offer more than yet another speech.
– Rick Perry
All school districts receive funds from the federal government, through the Department of Education, to support anti-drug education efforts.
– John Walters
All great enterprises have a pearl of faith at their core, and this must be ours: that Americans are still a people born to liberty. That they retain the capacity for self-government. That, addressed as free-born, autonomous men and women of God-given dignity, they will rise yet again to drive back a mortal enemy.
– Mitch Daniels
All Americans value the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, and I believe this is essential for our continued way of life. But with this freedom comes responsibility. That responsibility has been abdicated here by some in the media and some in the government.
– Steven Hatfill
After adding trillions to the debt on big-government policies most Americans didn't ask for and which we couldn't afford, Democratic leaders say they need more money, which they intend to take from small business, even though small businesses create the majority of new jobs.
– Mitch McConnell
Activist government overreach and ongoing economic stagnation have shown us why Washington should not try to displace what is best left to civil society.
– Paul Ryan
Accordingly, it is our task to ensure that the Government formulates policies that foster the continued development of the IT sector while also providing for citizens' access to technology and opportunity for economic advancement.
– Tim Holden
A world technology means either a world government or world suicide.
– Max Lerner
A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which 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, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.
– Thomas Jefferson
A perfect storm is in the making: financial uncertainty, economic downturn, government cuts, rising unemployment and a future that looks less clear the more we try to fathom it.
– Jonathan Sacks
A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation.
– Barbara Jordan
A good government may, indeed, redress the grievances of an injured people but a strong people can alone build up a great nation.
– Thomas Francis Meagher
A good government implies two things first, fidelity to the objects of the government secondly, a knowledge of the means, by which those objects can be best attained.
– Joseph Story
A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers.
– Friedrich August von Hayek
Love of country is nowhere the same as love of government.
– James Cook
Left-wing social policies sicken our behavior and corrupt our culture. People bend principles and sacrifice integrity to get as much as they can from the government. Giveaway programs encourage every imaginable sort of cheating and dishonesty. Wheeling and dealing in food stamps is a way of life. Lying and fraud are commonplace. Whenever you're dependent on the money, the end justifies the means.
– James Cook
Once a person comes to rely on the government for support, that person becomes a socialist through and through.
– James Cook
Liberals fostered the subsidies that have converted so many citizens to helplessness. They have made high taxes and big government a way of life. They have corrupted the politicians into believing that in order to be elected to office, they must dispense benefits.
– James Cook
No resource will flourish if managed by government.
– James Cook
The one thing that flies in the face of all human history and experience, is that the government can do a superior job than the private sector.
– James Cook
People who never seen to learn claim the government can be made more efficient.
– James Cook
People want government to solve problems, but government is often the cause of the problem.
– James Cook
Liberals believe and inexhaustible fund exists that can be tapped endlessly to pay for government social programs. Tax the rich and give it to a long line of moochers, pork barrel hustlers and ne'er-do-wells. These funds would otherwise have been employed as additional capital indispensable to economic progress.
– James Cook
Incompetent government embraces hiring quotas, thus furthering their incompetence.
– James Cook
Nothing in life is guaranteed, including government guarantees.
– James Cook