Quotes About Government

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

The White House is the leakiest place I've ever been in. (On special measures to ensure secrecy of plans to bomb Libya)

This administration is totally colorblind.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

As government expands, liberty contracts.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.

We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

I hope we once again have 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.

A democracy cannot rule an empire. Neither can one man, though empire may appear to presuppose monarchy. There is always an oligarchy somewhere, open or concealed.

When the individuals and classes that have gained wealth, honours and power through revolution emerge as champions of ordered government, they do not surrender anything.

The composition of the oligarchy of government [...] emerges as the dominant theme of political history [...] ; it is something real and tangible, whatever may be the name or theory of the constitution.

In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the façade; and Roman history, Republican or Imperial, is the history of the governing class.

Es gibt etwas Wichtigeres als politische Freiheit, und politische Rechte sind ein Mittel, kein Selbstzweck. Ihr Zweck ist Sicherheit für Leben und Eigentum, und diese Sicherheit konnte durch die Verfassung im republikanischen Rom nicht garantiert werden. Das durch Bürgerkriege und Unruhen verbrauchte und gebrochene römische Volk war bereit, das zerstörerische Privileg der Freiheit aufzugeben und sich wie am Anfang der Zeiten einer strengen Regierung unterzuordnen.

Ein wohlgeordneter Staat braucht keine großen Männer und hat keinen Raum für sie.

That's weird. 'Cause many high-ranking staff members at the USDA were employed by, or are otherwise affiliated with, the meat and dairy industries.159 And if the group responsible for "the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products" is run by people from the same industries they're supposed to be protecting us from . . . well, that would be a conflict of interest. And it is.

If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." The old adage applies here as well. If your only functioning government institution is the military, everything looks like a war—and when everything looks like war, everything looks like a military mission.

It takes a whole government to really screw up a war. A dollop of American hubris goes a long way too.

the U.S. government has a long history of overclassifying information that shouldn't be classified at all—and keeping information classified until long after any justification for classifying it has disappeared.

As budget cuts cripple civilian agencies and programs, they lose their ability to perform ad they once did, so we look to the military to pick up the slack. . . . This requires still higher military budgets, which continues the devastating cycle.

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.

Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party – however numerous they may be – is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.

Instead of comforting the people, who are full of cares and wearied by their hard lives, who go to church with faith in Christianity, the priests fulminate against the workers who are on strike, and against the opponents of the government; further, they exhort them to bear poverty and oppression with humility and patience. They turn the church and the pulpit into a place of political propaganda.