Government quotes
11.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside government — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"It would be naive to imagine we have solved all our income security problems simply because the roles of the federal and provincial governments in the area of skills training have been clarified."
"The government should be actively enforcing the high road."
"The Italian government, a free French newspaper tartly observed, never finished a war on the same side it started on – unless the war lasted long enough to change sides twice."
"The science of government is only a science of combinations, of applications, and of exceptions, according to times, places and circumstances."
"We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect. Our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they are sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive."
"The corporation is not a person; it is a legal fiction backed up by guns and police and jail cells and taxing authorities and the regulators called government."
"I'd shrink government in a minute, if I could shrink GM, Bank of America, and all these immoral corporations that operate by an undemocratic code, with no soul and no conscience."
"We are in a degenerate state of self-government. In fact, even to use the words self-government, is not only an exaggeration, it's a lie. It's a big lie!"
"The whole Jeffersonian ideal was that people are temporarily in government. Government is not the basic reality. People are. The private sector. And government is just a limited power to make things go better."
"I was always accused of being too stiff. In 1974, when I ran my first primary race for state rep, I was chief aide to the speaker of the House, I knew the issues and understood state government. But what I found out the hard way is that you can know all the ins and outs but people want to know you, your family."
"With any new civilization... they have to have their own officers and police and governments and all that."
"As our country increasingly relies on electronic information storage and communication, it is imperative that our Government amend our information security laws accordingly."
"Like some great swelling river, the powers of the federal government have today breached their constitutional levees and spilled into countless areas of life never anticipated by the founders."
"Markets help people pursue their happiness more efficiently and effectively. Because they are so effective, markets provide benefits right here and right now, even while government is busy batching the protection of happiness."
"Instead of doing more badly, government should focus on doing less well."
"The only way to effectively secure the common good is for the government to remain small."
"Every day Big Government heaps demands and restrictions upon businesses that sink some enterprises, cause others to direct resources away from serving customers and instead toward jumping through hoops of lawyers and regulators, and prevent other operations from ever getting off the ground."
"The government doesn't create wealth of its own; it can only take it from some and distribute it to others or dictate particular public uses of private resources."
"The more government does, the greater chance that its efforts will be tilted toward a particular group's good, instead of the common good."
"To best serve the public happiness, government shouldn't do things it cannot do well - anymore than Wal-Mart should provide goods and services that people don't like."
