"A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have." Thomas Jefferson

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. Mark Twain

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in essence, is fascism." Franklin D. Roosevelt

"A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it." Alex de Toqueville

"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." Winston Churchill

"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all." John F. Kennedy

"Democracy is a device that ensures that we shall be governed no better than we deserve." George Bernard Shaw

"A statesman is he who thinks in the future generations, and a politician is he who thinks in the upcoming elections." Abraham Lincoln

"For every prohibition you create you also create an underground." Jello Biafra, musician (b. 1958)

"Abraham Lincoln did not go to Gettysburg having commissioned a poll to find out what would sell in Gettysburg. There were no people with percentages for him, cautioning him about this group or that group or what they found in exit polls a year earlier. When will we have the courage of Lincoln?" Robert Coles

"The man who can make others laugh secures more votes for a measure than the man who forces them to think." Malcolm De Chazal, writer and painter (1902-1981)

"The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal." Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (1900-1980)

"If you have a weak candidate and a weak platform, wrap yourself up in the American flag and talk about the Constitution." Matthew Stanley Quay, senator (1833-1904)

"It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office." H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)

"The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." Will Rogers

"It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them." Cesare Beccaria, philosopher and politician (1738-1794)

"The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mold. The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbor creates a war betwixt princes." Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." Groucho Marx

"Diplomacy is the art of letting somebody else have your way." David Frost (1939-____) English TV host

"We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities." Bill Maher

"The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor." Hubert H. Humphrey

"If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other." Carl Schurz

"Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty." Abraham Lincoln

"Journalists do not believe the lies of politicians, but they do repeat them -- which is even worse!" Michel Colucci, comedian and actor (1944-1986)

"Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes, the wind will presently disappear, the taxes last us all the year." Ogden Nash

"The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth." H. L. Mencken

"No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." P.J. O'Rourke, writer (1947- )

"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status." Lawrence J. Peter (c. 1925-1990) American writer

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." Abraham Lincoln

"Civilization is the encouragement of differences." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in." Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919)

"A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill." Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (1907-1988)

"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right." Carl Schurz, revolutionary, statesman and reformer (1829-1906)

"If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves."  Thomas Sowell (American Writer and Economist, b.1930)

"Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war." Maria Montessori

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable." J. K. Galbraith, Letter to Kennedy, 1962

"Society is like a stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you get a lot of scum on the top." Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)

"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away." Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004)

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress." John Adams (1735 - 1826)

"I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me." Banksy, street artist (b. 1974)

"People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt." Otto von Bismarck, statesman (1815-1898)

"A politician is a man who thinks of the next election; while the statesman thinks of the next generation." James Freeman Clarke, preacher and author (1810-1888)

"A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected." Carl Sandburg

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." William J. Clinton

"The politician is an acrobat. He keeps his balance by saying the opposite of what he does." Maurice Barres, novelist and politician (1862-1923)

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.” Edward R. Murrow, journalist (1908-1965)

“A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.” Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (1907-1988)

“Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right.” Carl Schurz, revolutionary, statesman and reformer (1829-1906)

“For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.” Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745)

“Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.” Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)

"The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid." Art Spander

“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

“Very few established institutions, governments and constitutions ... are ever destroyed by their enemies until they have been corrupted and weakened by their friends.” Walter Lippman, journalist (1889-1974)

"You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered" Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th US president (1908-1973)

"One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results." Milton Friedman, economist, Nobel laureate (1912- )

"The penalty for not participating in government is to be governed by your inferiors." Plato

“There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy.” Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

“People rarely win wars; governments rarely lose them.” Arundhati Roy, writer and activist (1961- )

"The reward of energy, enterprise and thrift is taxes." William Feather

“The power to command frequently causes failure to think.” Barbara Tuchman, author and historian (1912-1989)

“I place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.” Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

“If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.” Jay Leno

“The nearest thing to immortality is this world is a government bureau.” General Hugh S. Johnson

“Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.” Johnny Carson

“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.” Nikita Khrushchev

“Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it important.” Eugene McCarthy US politician, teacher

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” Unknown

“The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best.” Will Rogers

“It is useless to hold a person to anything he says while he's in love, drunk, or running for office.” Shirley MacLaine

“Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason.” unknown

“Our elections are free, it's in the results where eventually we pay.” Bill Stern, sports announcer (1907-1971)

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.” Niccolo Machiavelli, political philosopher and author (1469-1527)

“Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.” Henry Peter Brougham

“The mystery of government is not how Washington works, but how to make it stop.” PJ O'Rourke

“The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.” Plato, philosopher (427-347 BCE)

“Bad officials are elected by good people who do not vote.” George Jean Nathan (1892-1958) American editor and critic

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.” Plato (c.428-347 BC) Greek philosopher