Government

Tonight's notable quotes, government edition:

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.
– John Adams

If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
– Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself.
– Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle .
– Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
– George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
– G. Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
– James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
– Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
– P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
– Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

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.
– Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
– Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!
– P.J. O’Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
– Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you!
– Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
– Mark Twain (1866)

Talk is cheap… except when Congress does it.
– Anonymous

The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a healthy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
– Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
– Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
– Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
–Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

There is no distinctly native American criminal class… save Congress.
– Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
– Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
– Thomas Jefferson