Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have… a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers.” – John Adams
“Government is like a baby: an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.” – Ronald Reagan
“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned… this is the sum of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” – P. J. O’Rourke
“We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power… the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” – Patrick Henry
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.” – Barry Goldwater
“The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” – George Washington
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” – Samuel Adams
“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” – James Madison
“If ‘pro’ is the opposite of ‘con’ what is the opposite of ‘progress’?” – Paul Harvey
“Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain
“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” – Thomas Paine
“Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what’s going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?” – Will Rogers
“It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty.” – James Monroe