“The federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.”

“If you serve a child a rotten hamburger in America, federal, state, and local agencies will investigate you, summon you, close you down, whatever. But if you provide a child with a rotten education, nothing happens, except that you're liable to be given more money to do it with. Well, we've discovered that money alone isn't the answer.”

“The size of the federal budget is not an appropriate barometer of social conscience or charitable concern.”

“Government is not a solution to our problem government is the problem.”

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to bemanaged by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and ofthe people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has thecapacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear theburden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higherprice.”

“No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!”

“As government expands, liberty contracts.”