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Political speech8 quotes
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. — Ronald Reagan · 1981The government strong enough to give you what you want is strong enough to take it all away. — Barry Goldwater · 1964We 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 · 1981I 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 · 1989A 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 · 1801No 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 · 1857All 8 quotes →Political literature2 quotes
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. — Gerald Ford · 1960I 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 · 1848Philosophical literature1 quote
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 · 1974