Top 100 Government Policy Quotes
#1. Often analysis seems to be based on the assumption that future economic output is almost entirely determined by inexorable economic forces independently of government policy so that devoting more resources to one use inevitably detracts from availability for another.
William Vickrey
#2. Most people seem unaware that corporate influence and wealth has taken over public policy, such that government policy now favors the wealthy few at the expense of the people.
Hank Johnson
#3. The banking collapse was caused, more than anything, by bad government policy and the total failure of bad regulation, rather than by greed.
Nigel Farage
#4. I think, if you create the right economic framework in terms of government policy, that Saskatchewan can continue to succeed and grow. Instead of having people migrate from Saskatchewan, they will be migrating to Saskatchewan.
N. Murray Edwards
#5. Bahai Iranians are barred from holding government jobs, their children are excluded from the nation's university system, their marriages are not recognized and their cemeteries and holy places have been desecrated. It is government policy to incite hatred of Bahais in the official media.
Elliott Abrams
#6. There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost everything, especially of government policy, is an inseparable compound of the two, so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.
Abraham Lincoln
#7. The whole infrastructure of air travel was, and is, part of government policy. It is not a natural development of a free economic system - at least not in the way that is claimed. The same is true of the roads, of course.
Noam Chomsky
#8. It is still possible to find people who believe that government policy did not end the Great Depression and undergird the Great Prosperity, just as it is possible to uncover people who do not believe in evolution.
Robert B. Reich
#9. When it comes to government policy, can we please stop using words like "architect"? Telling people what to do is not a skilled profession.
David Burge
#10. You are, I am sure, aware that genuine popular support in the United States is required to carry out any Government policy, foreign or domestic. The American people make up their own minds and no governmental action can change it.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
#11. I don't believe you can find any evidence of the fact that I have changed government policy solely because of a contribution.
William J. Clinton
#12. What, do you just wake up in the morning and say, 'I think I'll overtake a small country today,' or 'I wonder if there's a long-standing government policy that needs subverting?
Anna Scarlett
#13. It is government policy to phase out subsidies to nationalised industries. In line with this, the government hopes that the coal industry will be able to operate without the need for assistance apart from social grants.
Tony Benn
#14. If any individual who objects to government policy can take it in their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will never be able to keep our people safe or conduct foreign policy.
Barack Obama
#15. It's a sociological law that the more information you give people, the more government policy becomes dependent on public opinion.' Those were the words of Rafael Safarov,
Archie Brown
#16. If President Obama really means what he has said repeatedly about supporting the aspirations of the Egyptian people, then he will have to recognize that in Egypt today, as in America in 1963, that can mean opposing government policy.
Cynthia P. Schneider
#17. The truth is in California you can't build a new manufacturing facility, and businesses are leaving in droves because of bad government policy.
Carly Fiorina
#18. It was an idea we had when Al was in the Senate - to organize and moderate an annual conference that would look at government policy through the lens of the family to help identify ways that the family can be supported and strengthened.
Tipper Gore
#19. If the British government is prepared to say that the Unionists will not have a veto over British government policy and that guns, vetoes and injustices will all be left outside the door, then there is no good reason why talks cannot take place in an appropriate atmosphere.
Martin McGuinness
#20. The House of Saud had executed Juhayman. Now they were making his program government policy.
Robert Lacey
#21. The American public has difficulty believing ... [that] injustice continues to be inflicted upon Indian people because Americans assume that the sympathy and tolerance they feel toward Indians is somehow 'felt' or transferred to the government policy that deals with Indians. This is not the case.
Leslie Marmon Silko
#22. The American government policy on what we supported and subsidised in agriculture was a social experiment on a whole generation of children.
Ruth Reichl
#23. The way we subsidize food makes it cheaper to go to McDonald's and get a hamburger than a salad, and that's insane. It's pure government policy.
Alice Waters
#24. Valuing public servants would boost morale among those on the front line of implementing government policy.
Charles Kennedy
#25. I have always been a critic of government policy. I was in government for more than five years. Before that I was a critic. Within the government I was a critic, pushing for reform and always at odds with power brokers within the party.
Jonathan Moyo
#26. The basic policy of the British Government was that since the majority of people in Northern Ireland wished to remain in the United Kingdom, that was that. We asked what would happen if the majority wanted something else, if the majority wanted to see Irish unity.
John Hume
#27. Thousands of civilians have lost their lives to terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, and thousands more will - because, unlike the Pakistani government, which has no coherent policy to deal with the radicals, the Taliban have one to deal with Pakistan and its citizens.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
#28. Tariffs, government contracts, naval and military spending, nationalized industries, tax policy, social welfare, the legal privileging of labor unions were among the means at the disposal of the governing class to exploit the public at large for the benefits of its various clienteles.
Ralph Raico
#29. The phrase 'perception is reality' is overused generally. But perception can be reality in monetary policy. The bond market doesn't act merely on what it sees. It acts on what it expects of the Fed or the government.
Amity Shlaes
#30. Gluten intolerance and celiac disease are direct results of American agriculture policy and, specifically, the government's wading into the food arena.
Joel Salatin
#31. While Kuwait is not a democracy, giving only half the population a voice in their government is not a policy this Congress should support and one that I am glad that Kuwait's leaders are changing.
Ginny Brown-Waite
#32. The policy of America to deny visas to technically trained people in the U.S. and shipped to other countries, where they create companies that compete with America, has to be the stupidest policy of all the U.S. government policies.
Eric Schmidt
#33. Today, as a result of the policy of Macmillan's Government, Great Britain presents in the United Nations the face of Pecksniff and in Katanga the face of Gradgrind.
Conor Cruise O'Brien
#34. Whatever it is that the government does, sensible Americans would prefer that the government does it to somebody else. This is the idea behind foreign policy.
P. J. O'Rourke
#35. No diplomatic intervention will ever be made by any government that I lead in support of any individual terrorist's life. We have only indicated in the past, and will maintain a policy in the future, of intervening diplomatically in support of Australian nationals who face capital sentences abroad.
Kevin Rudd
#36. I don't just denounce suicide bombers. I denounce those governments which use indiscriminate slaughter to advance their foreign policy.
Ken Livingstone
#37. It is an ambassador's duty to stand up for his nation's foreign policy in any era and under any government whatsoever. Ambassadors are, in the full meaning of the term, titled spies.
Napoleon Bonaparte
#38. The Government is able to afford a suitable army and a suitable navy. It may maintain them without the slightest danger to the Republic or the cause of free institutions, and fear of additional taxation ought not to change a proper policy in this regard.
William Howard Taft
#39. We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.
Ronald Reagan
#40. By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.
Albert Camus
#41. I would still ask the government not to drive the people of India to desperation, or else there is no other course left open to the people except to inaugurate the policy of non-cooperation, though not necessarily the programme of Mr. Gandhi.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
#42. The instant the Government was organized, at the very first Congress, the Northern States evinced a general desire and purpose to use it for their own benefit, and to pervert its powers for sectional advantage, and they have steadily pursued that policy to this day.
Robert Toombs
#43. It has been denied that any direct pressure was exerted by the Russian Government, but the point is not of great importance, for the Communist parties of all countries can be taken as carrying out Russian policy, and it is not denied that the Communist Party was the chief
George Orwell
#44. We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it ... No grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy.
Robert H. Jackson
#45. The US government is usually on the wrong side against the poor and downtrodden, because the wrong side is the right side, given the class interests upon which the [US] policy is fixed.
Michael Parenti
#47. I don't think that voters should be fixated on public policy. In a healthy republic, they wouldn't have to worry every waking hour about what their government is doing.
David Harsanyi
#48. I would say that since the war, our methods-out and those of the opposition-have become much the same. I mean you can't be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government's 'policy' is benevolent, can you now?
John Le Carre
#49. No government can love a child, and no policy can substitute for a family's care. But at the same time, government can either support or undermine families as they cope with moral, social and economic stresses of caring for children.
Hillary Clinton
#50. When I resigned, I put the U.S. Government on notice that I'm going to stick to policy issues, that I have no intention of going out and blowing the cover off of the intelligence operations, that those are truly sensitive and they should not be exposed.
Scott Ritter
#51. The Carter Center has a policy of doing what others do not want to do. We do not compete with the World Health Organization, the United Nations or the US government.
Jimmy Carter
#52. I can officially state that my government and myself believe that all over Europe we need to open a debate on the 'drug question' in order to create more coherent and human policies with better perspectives ... The policy of criminalizing consumers has failed, creating many problems to our society.
George Papandreou
#53. When there's a vacuum of public input, lobbyists usually fill it. But when there's public input, the people usually win.
Morgan Carroll
#54. It's true that monetary policy was too lax for too long, and the government encouraged lending to people who were unlikely to repay their loans.
Paul Singer
#55. 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?'
Jacob Lew
#56. If President Obama has his way, you won't recognize the government, the free market system, or, frankly, America as you once knew it. His admonitions and his audacious policy goals demonstrate very clear motives: equalize, discourage dissent, and become a nation of apologists.
Bob Ehrlich
#57. It is bad policy to regulate everything ... where things may better regulate themselves and can be better promoted by private exertions; but it is no less bad policy to let those things alone which can only be promoted by interfering social power.
Friedrich List
#58. U.S. foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism these day. It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year. I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.
Gary McKinnon
#59. A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. It condemns the citizen to servitude.
Calvin Coolidge
#60. On economic policy, my support of smaller government, lower taxes and economic reform is consistent with the mainstream of the Republican Party in the United States and with many Democrats as well.
John Howard
#61. In modern Russia, you have no official, formal assessment of this past. Nobody in any Russian document has said that the policy of the Soviet government was criminal, that it was terrible. No one has ever said this.
Ryszard Kapuscinski
#62. The U.S.A. economic policy and practice have been largely influenced by this thought that people shall own property in their own right and in order to be strong enough to control their own government.
Ndabaningi Sithole
#63. The government plans to bring in a new science, technology and innovation policy in 2013.
Vayalar Ravi
#64. The people of the United States are more prosperous ... because their government embarked later than other governments ... upon the policy of obstructing business
Ludwig Von Mises
#65. My position on immigration has been clear for a long time. I believe the federal government ought to do their job. You know, secure our borders. Come up with an immigration policy that Americans understand and people who want to come to this country understand.
Rick Scott
#66. Almost every thing, especially of governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two [good and evil].
Abraham Lincoln
#67. There are lots of other things that affect state growth besides state taxes. However, the reason I look at taxes is because these are policy variables that can be changed by state governments in order to get better results than they otherwise had.
Arthur Laffer
#68. I think that it's always appropriate for Americans and for American foreign policy to make clear why we feel that self-government is most compatible with peace, the well-being of people, and human dignity.
Jeane Kirkpatrick
#69. If the government wants to do social policy, it should not be done in a quasi-public company. If you have a mortgage guarantee company which is done by the U.S. government, it should be guaranteed by the originators, i.e., the shareholder.
Jamie Dimon
#70. Public policy in the twentieth century was about protecting and expanding the social compact, based on recognition that effective government at the federal level provides rules and services and safety measures that contribute to a better society.
Carl Bernstein
#71. No one doing big business can avoid some contact with government agencies, regulators, and policy makers.
Mikhail Prokhorov
#72. Investors don't like uncertainty. The market is telling us that they need certainty, they need to see where the economy is heading. If the government is committed to continue the Open Door policy, they will need to come up with concrete policies and execution steps to increase confidence.
Zhang Xin
#73. I love and always have loved policy issues and trying to have an impact on the issues that are out there. I cherish my years in government. I have loved my participation at CNN, at Current; writing; teaching. Where I will go next, I will have to sort out.
Eliot Spitzer
#74. Most economists would concede that, in theory, government has the tools to smooth the business cycle. The problem is that fiscal policy is not made in theory; it's made in Congress.
Charles Wheelan
#75. By leveraging their freedom from the bonds of location, corporations could now dictate the economic policy of governments.
Joel Bakan
#76. I went on to explain that it is an honour, and also that we need a transport policy.
"If by 'we' you mean Britain, that's perfectly true," he acknowledged. "But if by 'we' you mean you and me and this Department, we need a transport policy like an aperture in the cranial cavity.
Jonathan Lynn & Anthony Jay
#77. I don't think our government really has much of a policy about air travel. I would compare the policies of United Arab Emirates, which has done a terrific job recognizing the value of transportation, of travel.
Jeff Smisek
#78. Those who expect radical changes in policy and direction are mistaken and lost. The government of the fourth republic will build on what was undertaken by previous governments and will continue with all good things.
Jakaya Kikwete
#79. The National Security Council's real role is to coordinate the various activities of the government of the United States in the furtherance of American foreign policy.
Oliver North
#80. When making public policy decisions about new technologies for the Government, I think one should ask oneself which technologies would best strengthen the hand of a police state. Then, do not allow the Government to deploy those technologies.
Phil Zimmermann
#81. Unhappy voters thought the anemic economy, Obamacare, the collapse of U.S. foreign policy, the scandals in government, and the incompetent handling of everything from the Islamic State to Ebola were the only real issues. Democrats'€ refusal to acknowledge them did not make these failures go away.
Victor Davis Hanson
#82. I thought I was gonna be an attorney, so I went to Dartmouth and I was a government major and I minored in environmental policy, and I didn't do anything academically around the arts.
Aisha Tyler
#83. Well, the problem of the federal government is that they print money and go in debt. That's their national policy, Democrats and Republicans it doesn't matter. And this is where I differ.
Richard M. Daley
#84. Whether you agree with its policy or not, your dealing with government is not voluntary, but coercive. Government is the very antithesis of 'free market'.
Dominic Frisby
#85. Government systems suffer from two weaknesses. They are complex. And they are slow. We need to change this. Our systems need to be made sharp, effective, fast and flexible. This requires simplification of processes and having trust in citizens. This needs a Policy Driven State.
Narendra Modi
#86. Unfortunately, there's a lot of people in high places who understand the science but don't like where the policy leads them: too much government control.
David Titley
#87. Civil society has not lost the possibility to influence the government and force them to change their policy. That is why we believe in your voice and your help.
Lidia Yusupova
#88. It may be said here that the wise policy of the British Government severely punishes a disregard of the practices of the native religions.
Jules Verne
#89. Indigenous programs and policy will come within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet because Indigenous policy and programs should not be an add - on, they should not be an afterthought, but they should be at the heart of a good Australian Government.
Yitzhak Rabin
#90. Talk radio is an asset to our nation because it encourages strong and healthy debate about public policy, and there is no reason to affect that debate with government legislation.
Tim Walberg
#91. But when States did debase the coinage, it was always from purely fiscal motives. The government needed financial help, that was all; it was not concerned with questions of currency policy.
Ludwig Von Mises
#92. I thought there might be some grand design I did not understand, but the government's policy clearly was not working, because India was still poor. I was determined to learn more, so I became interested in economics. This book is another unintended consequence of the government's policies.
Raghuram G. Rajan
#93. Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.
Thomas Jefferson
#94. To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences, I have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly with the constitutional authority of the Federal Government.
Martin Van Buren
#95. Our policy for the last many years has been to deter the Chinese government in Beijing from ever coming into the position where they thought they had enough leverage over the U.S. to cross the Straits of Taiwan.
Bob Filner
#96. If there is a serious outbreak in the UK I doubt voters will risk a Labour government. Time to get serious ... Look at Diane Abbott's irresponsible comments on Ebola patients, Mili's open border policy. No. Way.
Louise Mensch
#97. Fortunately, good policy, true principles, and effective leadership work whenever they are tried. When we reduce government, balance budgets, and keep taxes as low as possible, states respond in a positive way.
Brian Sandoval
#98. Public policy can help, but there is no government that can fix these problems for us. Recall
J.D. Vance
#99. Groups that advocate open government have argued that it's vital to know the names of White House visitors, who may have an outsized influence on policy matters.
Bill Dedman
#100. And no one knows that better than those who kill for policy, clandestinely or openly, as do the governments of the world, which kill in the name of god and country or for whatever reason they deem appropriate.
Richard Ramirez
