Oppressive Government Quotes

1. "In government as well as in trade a new era came to the colonies in 1763."
Author: Albert Bushnell Hart

2. "When unlimited and unrestricted by individual rights a government is men's deadliest enemy."
Author: Ayn Rand

3. "Parties in our Government have no better idea than to think the Republic stands all the firmer upon opposition; but I say that it is not so. A republican government consists in letting the people rule by their united voice, without a dissension,--in learning what is for the best, and unitedly doing it. That is true republicanism."
Author: Brigham Young

4. "We are angry about paying the highest income taxes and property taxes in the nation and getting less and less for it. We are angry about our incompetent, dysfunctional government that pays no attention to the desires of the people. We are angry about the cesspool of corruption and conflicts of interests and self-dealing that is Albany."
Author: Carl Paladino

5. "In the laws of the land, she has no rights; in government she has no voice. And in spite of another principle recognized in this Republic, namely, that 'taxation without representation is tyranny,' she is taxed without being represented."
Author: Ernestine Rose

6. "Democracy is essentially a means, a utilitarian device for safeguarding internal peace and individual freedom. As such it is by no means infallible or certain. Nor must we forget that there has often been much more cultural and spiritual freedom under an autocratic rule than under some democracies and it is at least conceivable that under the government of a very homogeneous and doctrinaire majority democratic government might be as oppressive as the worst dictatorship."
Author: Friedrich Hayek

7. "As Charles Stewart Parnell called out during the Irish rent strike campaign in 1879 and 1880:It is no use relying on the Government . . . . You must only rely upon your own determination . . . . Help yourselves by standing together . . . strengthen those amongst yourselves who are weak . . . , band yourselves together, organize yourselves . . . and you must win . . . When you have made this question ripe for settlement,then and not till then will it be settled."
Author: Gene Sharp

8. "All of you, I am sure, have heard many cries about Government interference with business and about "creeping socialism." I should like to remind the gentlemen who make these complaints that if events had been allowed to continue as they were going prior to March 4, 1933, most of them would have no businesses left for the Government or for anyone else to interfere with — and almost surely we would have socialism in this country, real socialism."
Author: Harry S. Truman

9. "We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels."
Author: Henry A. Wallace

10. "Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?"
Author: Henry David Thoreau

11. "There is a very serious fiscal-policy question of, 'Are we running our overall fiscal policy such that we as a government can pay our bills?'"
Author: Jacob Lew

12. "It is amazing to think after all that has happened in this country in the last few years, the last few decades, that so many people have this blind faith that government is our friend and therefore, so we don't need protections against it."
Author: James Bovard

13. "The more expansive government is, the more perils people face in daily lives, be it from IRS agents or from child support services, or from other agencies that often have little or no legal restraints on their power."
Author: James Bovard

14. "All that a good government aims at... is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid to the force of its own unavoidable consequences, and to abstain from fortifying and accumulating social inequality as a means of increasing political inequalities."
Author: James F. Cooper

15. "Secondly, the Government of Sudan should commit to the disarmament and control of the Janjaweed militia and ensure that the targeting of civilians ceases immediately."
Author: Jan Egeland

16. "The government gave me four lighters, of which only three are functional. Employing their unemployment calculations, I guess this would mean that only 8% don't work."
Author: Jarod Kintz

17. "But without a caring society, without each citizen voluntarily accepting the weight of responsibility, government is destined to grow even larger, taking more of your money, burrowing deeper into your lives."
Author: Jeb Bush

18. "A government of laws, and not of men."
Author: John Adams

19. "It is a simple truth that the human mind can face better the most oppressive government, the most rigid restrictions, than the awful prospect of a lawless, frontierless world. Freedom is a dangerous intoxicant and very few people can tolerate it in any quantity; it brings out the old raiding, oppressing, murderous instincts; the rage for revenge, for power, the lust for bloodshed. The longing for freedom takes the form of crushing the enemy- there is always the enemy!- into the earth; and where and who is the enemy if there is no visible establishment to attack, to destroy with blood and fire? Remember all that oratory when freedom is threatened again. Freedom, remember, is not the same as liberty."
Author: Katherine Anne Porter

20. "Christ, back in Chicago, we don't make bicycles any more. It's allhuman relations now. The eggheads sit around trying to figure out newways for everybody to be happy. Nobody can get fired, no matter what;and if somebody does accidentally make a bicycle, the union accusesus of cruel and inhuman practices and the government confiscates thebicycle for back taxes and gives it to a blind man in Afghanistan.""And you think things will be better in San Lorenzo?""I know damn well they will be. The people down there are poorenough and scared enough and ignorant enough to have somecommon sense!"
Author: Kurt Vonnegut

21. "I don't hold America responsible for the largely oppressive governments in the 22 Arab countries. There are repressive Arab governments that are our allies and there are those that are our nominal enemies. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to what extent we're involved in propping up those governments."
Author: Lawrence Wright

22. "In Venezuela, with Chavez, is really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution. To begin to put in place things that are going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela. The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled - worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government - worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country. And we've had complaints about this ever since."
Author: Mark Lloyd

23. "We're facing a natural disaster in the middle of an economic disaster. The federal government has to balance its budget the way our families do."
Author: Nan Hayworth

24. "Looking at the purpose of our government toward the Indians, we find that after subjugating them it has been our policy to collect the different tribes on reservations and support them at the expense of our people."
Author: Nelson A. Miles

25. "Some doomsayers think the collapse will be triggered by runaway government spending, excessive taxation, oppressive regulation, food shortages, fuel shortages or natural disasters such as deadly pandemics or lethal changes in the world's climate."
Author: Robert Higgs

26. "Many health care providers, particularly physicians in rural and urban areas, are leaving the Government programs because of inadequate reimbursement rates."
Author: Ron Wyden

27. "No government in the world today has explicitly assigned the responsibility for planetary protection to any of its agencies."
Author: Rusty Schweickart

28. "I think President Obama is the most radical president this nation's ever seen. And in particular, I think he is a true believer in government control of the economy and of our everyday lives. In my judgment, we are facing what I consider to be the epic battle of our generation, quite literally the battle over whether we remain a free market nation."
Author: Ted Cruz

29. "We are watching industries crumble, Wall Street firms disappear, unemployment spike, and unprecedented government intervention. And our designated opinion leaders want to know: Is Obama up this week? Is he down? And is his leadership style more like Bill Clinton's, or Abraham Lincoln's?"
Author: Thomas Frank

30. "The pretense that the workings of the mind, like the actions of the body, are subject to the control of laws, does not seem sufficiently demolished. ... The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others."
Author: Thomas Jefferson

31. "If there is no crisis in your country, don't worry, the government will create one."
Author: Vikrant Parsai

32. "Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home."
Author: William E. Gladstone

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