Herbert Spencer
"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."
Bismarck, Reflections, v1, p.15
"I certainly do assume that official decisions do not gain in honesty and moderation by being arrived at collectively; for apart from the fact that, in the case of voting by majority, arithmetic and chance take the place of logical reasoning, that feeling of personal responsibility, in which lies the essential guarantee for the conscientiousness of the decision, is lost directly it comes about by means of anonymous majorities", Reflections and Reminiscences (1898)
Bismarck, Reflections, v1, p.14
"It is only human nature to be more keenly sensitive to the thorns than to the roses of every institution, and that the thorns should irritate one against the existing state of things", Reflections and Reminiscences (1898)
Dave Barry
"The primary function of the government is - and here I am quoting directly from the U.S. Constitution - 'to spew out paper.'"
Gerhard Kocher
"Ask not what the government can do for you. Ask why it doesn't.”
Ronald Reagan, Economy
"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, subsidise it.”
George Bernard Shaw
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
P.J. O'Rourke, Charity
"There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as "caring" and "sensitive" because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to try to do good with other people's money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he'll do good with his own money -- if a gun is held to his head."
H.L. Mencken (1)
"It is not a sign of communal well-being when men turn to their government to execute all their business for them, but rather a sign of decay, as in the United States today."
P.J. O'Rourke, All the trouble (4)
"When a private entity does not produce the desired results, it is (certain body parts excepted) done away with. But a public entity gets bigger", All the trouble in the world (1994)