Rick Perry 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.

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.

They think that the cure to big government is to have bigger government... the only effective cure is to reduce the scope of government - get government out of the business.

I believe you can divide the people in to two basic groups, those who believe government is a necessary good and those who believe it is a necessary evil, those who want government to take care of them, those who want government to leave them alone.

You know what the fastest growing religion in America is? Statism. The growing reliance on government.

Candidly, I believe most corporations actually don't mind big government.

We should distinguish carefully skepticism about Big Government from contempt for all government.

Mr. Obama is proud of his belief that government knows best. When he told the world that individuals were not totally responsible for their personal success, that government has a major role in it, many Americans were taken aback. But Barack Obama sincerely believes that.

The central issue of our time - of all times - is the size, power and scope of government.

Democrats want to use government power to make people's lives go better; Republicans respond that people know more than politicians do. We think that both might be able to agree that nudging can maintain free markets, and liberty, while also inclining people in good directions.

Just as the left has to be more willing to question 'Government knows best,' the right has to rethink its laissez-faire attitude toward government.

President Reagan was elected on the promise of getting government off the backs of the people and now he demands that government wrap itself around the waists of the people.

No American conservative has ever argued that the government should never be involved in peoples' lives. That is anarchy, and we don't argue for that.

It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most.

While I am a fervent believer in free markets and limited government, there are rare instances in which government involvement is necessary.

I believe that government is too large, costs too much, spends too much, and has too much regulatory power in our lives.

We have seen a central government taking more and more control over public education, over communications, over transportation, over every detail of our daily lives.

Liberals often don't see the problems, and conservatives don't see the promise, of government.

…people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things the government does for others as socialism.

Now we’re going to get big government.

Government is like fire. If it is kept within bounds and under the control of the people, it contributes to the welfare of all. But if it gets out of place, it gets too big and out of control, it destroys the happiness and even the lives of the people.

The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a forum and for determining the “rules of the game”.

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.

Paul Ryan says he's for smaller government, and he's funded every big government idea that there is.