William S. Cohen Quotes

Governments are not like a business. They don’t look like a business, work like a business, think like a business, and they don’t have a bottom line.

A country is not a business and a government should stand for much more than economic efficiency.

The country is carried comfortably down the river, and the function of Government is to occasionally put out an oar to prevent running into the bank.

A government operates and acts differently than a company. So all we want to do is get some transparency here and then determine if the deal should go forward.

Government should steer, not row.

As taxpayers, we pay our elected officials to serve the people and protect our state and our interests.

The role of government is to steer us in the right direction, not do all the work for us.

Elections do have consequences, and those we elect and far too often re-elect have forgotten how government works and for whom they work for, and that an ever growing, power hungry state and federal government are not the answer to the problem, but 80% of the time are the problem.

Conscious of our many problems, I seek today to lay a foundation to our public policy. My fundamental purpose is to devote my term of office to raising the standard of public service in New Jersey.

Most of the energy devoted to political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government.

Government functions best as a catalyst, not a cure. We need a smarter, more effective government, not a bigger one.

Government is not the enemy. Government is simply a tool that can be used wisely or unwisely.

The Federal Government is the people and the budget is a reflection of their need

I believe in lower taxes. I believe in more efficient government. I believe in reducing bureaucracy. I believe that we shouldn't have lobbyists who can go in or former government workers who can come back and lobby.

In a mature democracy any proposed policy should be subjected to a close analysis of its likely benefits and costs.

Government cannot be all things to all people.

Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.

The debate on how to shrink the federal government is at the core of our problem of government not doing its job.

Taxpayers deserve a government that harnesses technology to better serve the people.

We need a Federal government that does what the government needs to do and stops doing what the government ought not to be doing.

I am committed to working towards a more transparent, accountable, and ethical federal government worthy of the public's trust.

Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.

While other state governments stiff their vendors, close parks, delay tax refunds, and ignore unacceptably poor service levels, Indiana state employees are setting national standards for efficiency.

And we did it because it's time for City Hall to stop looking out for City Hall and start looking out for the people like you and me who are footing the bill.

Government is not show business.