Quotes · Skopia

14 quotes

No more revenue ought to be collected from the people than the amount necessary to defray the expenses of a wise, economical, and efficient administration of the Government.

James Buchanan

1857

★ 1.1

Speech · Political speech

Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People." "We the People" tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us."We the People" are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the government what it is allowed to do."We the People" are free.

Ronald Reagan

1989 Farewell Address · 1989

★ 1.1

Speech · Political speech

And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.

Ronald Reagan

1989 Farewell Address · 1989

★ 1.1

Speech · Political speech

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.

Thomas Jefferson

First Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson · 1801

★ 2.1

Essay · Political literature

I heartily accept the motto,—"That government is best which governs least";... Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe,—"That government is best which governs not at all."

Henry David Thoreau

The Relation of the Individual to the State · 1848

★ 2.1

I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

Grover Norquist

2001

★ 2.6

Philosophical literature

A minimal state, limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on, is justified; that any more extensive state will violate persons' rights not to be forced to do certain things, and is unjustified; and that the minimal state is inspiring as well as right.

Robert Nozick

Anarchy, State, and Utopia · 1974

★ 3.5

Political literature

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.

Gerald Ford

1960

★ 3.6

Speech · Political speech

I have spoken of a Thousand Points of Light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led.

George H.W. Bush

Inaugural Address of George H.W. Bush · 1989

★ 3.6

Speech · Political speech

We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

Ronald Reagan

First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan · 1981

★ 3.7

Magazine

My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.

Grover Norquist

The Nation · 2001

★ 5.1

Speech · Political speech

The government strong enough to give you what you want is strong enough to take it all away.

Barry Goldwater

1964

★ 5.2

Magazine

The best government is that which governs least.

John L. O'Sullivan

1837

★ 6.9

Speech · Political speech

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

Ronald Reagan

First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan · 1981

★ 7.1

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