Wilhelm von Humboldt Quotes

What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government shall do everything and the idea that government shall do nothing.

Can government really be active and, at the same time, limited? History suggests otherwise.

Government has a rightful role, but not an excessive role, to play.

I'm not here today to tell you government doesn't have a role to play. It does, but it needs to be the right role.

Conservatives believe government's principal functions are the preservation of freedom and removal of restraints on the individual. Liberalism's ascent in the first two-thirds of this century reflected the new belief that government should also confer capacities on individuals. Liberalism's decline in the final third of this century has reflected doubts about whether government can be good at that, or whether government that is good at that is good for the nation's character.

What is the purpose of the government? When you examine most political debates, you usually find that question at the bedrock. What makes a government good? What makes one effective? What is government supposed to do, and what shouldn’t it do? The reason we disagree so much about politics is often because we hold different theories about what the purpose of government is.

Politicians are good at saying how Government must do more, but we must also think carefully about where Government should do less.

This administration in Washington that's in power now clearly believes that government is not only the answer to every need, but it's the most qualified to make the most central decisions for every American in every area.

The legitimate acts of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.

Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from birth what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government to do good.

A government role in our society should be inherently suspect …. There is something inherently coercive in the nature of government.

Despite the never-ending debate on the question of the role of government in America, there's been a strong tradition of protecting our undisputed, important natural treasures or taking on great common engineering challenges.

We have our differences since the beginning of America. It's a legitimate difference. What is the role of government, et cetera, federal, state, local?

Government is a necessary evil

In almost all matters, the real question should be: why are we letting government handle this?

You know, if government were a product, selling it would be illegal. Government is a health hazard. Governments have killed many more people than cigarettes or unbuckled seat belts ever have.

"Government," says Swift, "is a plain thing, and fitted to the capacity of many heads."

The State is not, as many political scientists would make it, an inanimate thing; it consists of people, human beings, each of whom operates under an inner compulsion to get the most out of life with the least expenditure of labor.

I'm a Democrat, and there are an important group of things only the government can do. But let us be clear that for most of the world, what they most need is less government.

Government is not capable of caring. Government gets things done through coercion. They fine, they penalize, they tax, they confiscate, they jail, they bully to get what they want.

Where government is impossible, politics is impossible.

What do you think the appropriate role of government is in society? The way I look at this job is, you want me to do X? Well, is the private sector doing X with any kind of success? Because if they are, I'd rather have them do it than have us do it.

Government is never more dangerous than when our desire to have it help us blinds us to its great power to harm us.

All government is an ugly necessity.

The government does a lot of stuff that it shouldn't do - the Department of Education, for instance.