That government is best which governs least.
Thomas Paine

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Thomas Paine

The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
Thomas Paine

Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.
Thomas Paine

To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches.
Thomas Paine

Taxes are like abortion, and not just because both are grotesque procedures supported by Democrats. You're for them or against them. Taxes go up or down; government raises taxes or lowers them. But Democrats will not let the words "abortion" or "tax hikes" pass their lips.
Ann Coulter

One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace, good people don't go into government.
Donald Trump

If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a "peace conference," you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
Joseph Stalin

Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us.
Leo Tolstoy

The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.
Voltaire

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
Voltaire

An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
Voltaire

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
Voltaire

The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
Voltaire

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the goverment.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.
Franklin D. Roosevelt