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Quotes about politics

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Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).
Ayn Rand1905–1982The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
When I say “capitalism,” I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism⁠—with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.
Ayn Rand1905–1982The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
- Economics
- Government
“Free competition enforced by law” is a grotesque contradiction in terms.
Ayn Rand1905–1982“Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason,” The Objectivist Newsletter (February 1962) p. 1
- Economics
- Laws
I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Anderson-Reagan Presidential Debate (21 September 1980)
- Abortion
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Tear Down This Wall (1987)
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Remarks at a business conference in Los Angeles (2 March 1977)
Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Interview, Los Angeles Times (7 January 1970)
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream⁠—the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order⁠—or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004A Time for Choosing (1964)
Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
- Economics
There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits on the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
- Economics
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business (15 August 1986)
- Economics
One definition of an economist is somebody who sees something happen in practice and wonders if it will work in theory.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
- Economics
We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefitting from their success⁠—only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
- Economics
It is the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism- Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Address to Members of the British Parliament (1982)