No government can be free that does not allow all its citizens to participate in the formation and execution of her laws. — Thaddeus Stevens
Government is best which governs least — Thomas Paine
A government is just only when the whole people share equally in its protection and advantages. — Elizabeth Cady Stanton
The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party. — John C. Calhoun
I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free. — John Tyler
Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people. — Henry Clay
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. — Henry David Thoreau
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. — Thomas Jefferson
The ideal Government of all reflective men, from Aristotle onward, is one which lets the individual alone - one which barely escapes being no government at all. — H. L. Mencken
Government itself is founded upon the great doctrine of the consent of the governed, and has its cornerstone in the memorable principle that men are endowed with inalienable rights. — Leland Stanford
Democracy is the form of government in which the free are rulers. — Aristotle
In a free society, government has the responsibility of protecting us from others, but not from ourselves. — Walter E. Williams
In free governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns. — Benjamin Franklin
Short Free Government Quotes
Government is an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself. — Ibn Khaldun
Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people. — Grover Cleveland
The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people. — Andrew Johnson
Individual liberty depends upon keeping government under control. — Ronald Reagan
Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government. — Edmund Burke
Top 10 Free Government Quotes
A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. — Alexander Hamilton
How could a state be governed, or protected in its foreign relations if every individual remained free to obey or not to obey the law according to his private opinion. — Thomas Hobbes
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. — John Adams
As for politics, I’m an anarchist. I hate governments and rules and fetters. Can’t stand caged animals. People must be free. — Charlie Chaplin
Without a strong educational system — free of government control — democracy is crippled. Knowledge is not only the key to power. It is the citadel of human freedom. — Harry S. Truman
Freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society -- once the right to travel is curtailed, all other rights suffer. — William O. Douglas
The black market was a way of getting around government controls. It was a way of enabling the free market to work. It was a way of opening up, enabling people. — Milton Friedman
If it was wise, manly, and patriotic for us to establish a free government, it is equally wise to attend to the necessary means of its preservation. — James Monroe
No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. — Noah Webster
The state is or can be master of money, but in a free society it is master of very little else. — William Beveridge
The ocean is everything I want to be. Beautiful, mysterious, wild and free.
Federal Government Quotes
It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government. — Alexander Hamilton
Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master! — Thomas Jefferson
If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand. — Milton Friedman
Fools take the knife and stab people in the back. The wise take a knife, cut the cord and free themselves from the fools.
The [Liberal] federal government's trouble is that they have a wishbone where they should have a backbone. — Tommy Douglas
For over 20 years, the federal and provincial governments have made enormous efforts employing a variety of approaches in an attempt to stimulate Montreal's economy. — Kim Campbell
Expanding eligibility of family planning services to low-income women will maximize cost-savings to both federal and state governments, reduce the disparities in access to family planning services for low-income women, and decrease the incidence of abortion in the U.S — Rosa DeLauro
Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.
What the Idaho Health Freedom Act says is that the citizens of our state won't be subject to another federal mandate or turn over another part of their life to government control. — Butch Otter
I've experienced first-hand the wonderful work organizations like J Bar J do for young people in Central Oregon and I am encouraged that the federal government is taking an active role in the Cascade Youth and Family Center. — Greg Walden
Among the popular and representative systems of government I do not approve of the federal system: it is too perfect; and it requires virtues and political talents much superior to our own. — Simon Bolivar
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. — James Madison
Anti-government Quotes
The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government. — Edward Abbey
The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded. — Baron de Montesquieu
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. — Thomas Jefferson
It takes a huge effort to free yourself from memory.
Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other. — Thomas Jefferson
I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man. — Thomas Jefferson
I love my country, not my government. — Jesse Ventura
You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequence of your choice.
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. — Frank Herbert
Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. — Mother Teresa
The anti-slavery party contend that slavery is wrong in itself, and the Government is a consolidated national democracy. We of the South contend that slavery is right, and that this is a confederate Republic of sovereign States. — Laurence M. Keitt
In America, we have anti-nepotism laws in the federal government and in lots of state governments, because the practice of hiring relatives undermines public confidence that the government official is actually finding best person for the job. — Kathleen Clark
Anti Government Quotes
... happily the Government of the United States... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. — George Washington
Only in time of fear is government thrown back to its primitive and sole function of self-defense and the many interests of which it is the guardian become subordinate to that. — Jane Addams
Those advocates who work for world peace by urging a system of world government are called impractical dreamers. Those impractical dreamers are entitled to ask their critics what is so practical about war. — Walter Cronkite
No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go.
Government is not a solution to our problem government is the problem. — Ronald Reagan
Whenever you put your faith in big government for any reason, sooner or later you wind up an apologist for mass murder. — Karl Hess
When poverty declines, the need for government declines, which is why expecting government to solve poverty is like expecting a tobacco company to mount an aggressive anti-smoking campaign. — Stefan Molyneux
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force...Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. — George Washington
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. — Howard Zinn
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom. — Ludwig von Mises
Our clear goal must be the advancement of the white race and separation of the white and black races. This goal must include freeing of the American media and government from subservient Jewish interests. — David Duke
No people without a government of their own can expect to be treated on the same level as people of independent sovereign states. It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else . . . — Kwame Nkrumah
Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates. — Benjamin Franklin
The definition of success is when you are free to do what you love, without any limitations.
Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite. — Ronald Reagan
No country can be called free which is governed by an absolute power; and it matters not whether it be an absolute royal power or an absolute legislative power, as the consequences will be the same to the people. — Thomas Paine
I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind. — John Diefenbaker
If it were to be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws - the first growing out of the last . . . . A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. — Alexander Hamilton
The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. — Hugo Black
Unlike any other nation, here the people rule, and their will is the supreme law. It is sometimes sneeringly said by those who do not like free government, that here we count heads. True, heads are counted, but brains also . . . — William McKinley
Encryption...is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running the government... It's hard to think of a more powerful, less dangerous tool for liberty. — Esther Dyson
The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people. — Hugo Black
Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave. — George Gurdjieff
Sound money is also an essential element of a free society as it provides for an effective bulwark against despotic government. — Saifedean Ammous
I am more than ever convinced of the dangers to which the free and unbiased exercise of political opinion - the only sure foundation and safeguard of republican government - would be exposed by any further increase of the already overgrown influence of corporate authorities. — Martin Van Buren
I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. — Ronald Reagan
God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil, for which we are not responsible, and we must endure it, till we can get rid of it without destroying the last hope of free government in the world. — Millard Fillmore
No government can successfully achieve all three goals of having a fixed foreign exchange rate, free capital flows, and an independent monetary policy. — Saifedean Ammous
We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. — Ayn Rand
Left-wing politicians take away your liberty in the name of children and of fighting poverty, while right-wing politicians do it in the name of family values and fighting drugs. Either way, government gets bigger and you become less free. — Harry Browne
The Founders believed, and the Conservative agrees, in the dignity of the individual; that we, as human beings, have a right to live, live freely, and pursue that which motivates us not because man or some government says so, but because these are God-given natural rights. — Mark Levin
As long as I don't write about the government, religion, politics, and other institutions, I am free to print anything. — Pierre Beaumarchais
We who live in free market societies believe that growth and prosperity, and ultimately human fulfillment are created from the bottom up, not the government down. — Ronald Reagan
I believe one of the main roles of Government is to keep our economy free and fair. — Liz Truss
Religion is the only solid Base of morals and that Morals are the only possible Support of free governments. — Gouverneur Morris
Anarchism stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion and liberation of the human body from the coercion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. It stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals. — Emma Goldman
Who then is free? The wise man who can govern himself. — Horace
A free press stands as one of the great interpreters between the government and the people. To allow it to be fettered is to fetter ourselves. — George Sutherland
What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. — Thomas Jefferson
In a despotic government, the only principle by which the tyrant who is to move the whole machine means to regulate and manage the people is fear, by the servile dread of his power. But a free government, which of all others is far the most preferable, cannot be supported without virtue. — Samuel Williams
Perhaps sensing the dismal failure of its efforts to show that 'established by the State' means 'established by the State or the Federal Government,' the Court tries to palm off the pertinent statutory phrase as "inartful drafting.' This Court, however, has no free-floating power 'to rescue Congress from its drafting errors.' — Antonin Scalia
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of free government quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about free government to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of free government quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
