Rand Paul Quotes

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives

Americans want government that is leaner, more efficient, and less intrusive into their personal lives.

We think the government is running the country, but it is just a policymaker. Unknowingly, people are inviting the government to run their lives. The only business of the government is to come up with the right policies.

In a thousand fields the welfarists, statists, socialists, and interventionists are daily driving for more restrictions on individual liberty.

I believe you can divide the people in to two basic groups, those who believe government is a necessary good and those who believe it is a necessary evil, those who want government to take care of them, those who want government to leave them alone.

Government can't do anything for you except in proportion as it can do something to you.

Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.

I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington.

We must recognize that personal freedoms diminish as the welfare state grows. The price of more and more public programs is less and less private freedom.

I don’t believe in involving the government in enforcing or encouraging the lifestyle of gays and homosexuals.

We cannot afford to walk down that dangerous path of government overstepping its boundaries into the most personal parts of our lives.

There is only one kind of freedom and that's individual liberty. Our lives come from our creator and our liberty comes from our creator. It has nothing to do with government granting it.

We don't want a busybody government - a boss - that butts into our lives every chance it gets to tell us how to work, how to play, where to live and on and on.

I've always believed as a value that the government has a vital - not overwhelming, but vital - role to play in furthering human welfare and good. I think we have an important supportive role to play, hopefully intelligent and sensible.

Government health care changes the relationship between the citizen and the state, and, in fact, I think it's an assault on citizenship.

We need a liberal agenda in which government resists the temptation to interfere in the lives of individuals but is equally determined to play an active role where creative action can advance the liberties of all.

This administration in Washington that's in power now clearly believes that government is not only the answer to every need, but it's the most qualified to make the most central decisions for every American in every area.

And I don't think that government has a role in telling people how to live their lives. Maybe a minister does, maybe your belief in God does, maybe there's another set of moral codes, but I don't think government has a role.

Governments are sails, the people is the wind, the state is the boat, and time is the sea.

What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government shall do everything and the idea that government shall do nothing.

Attention shouldn't be on finding ways to build a better government; we should be looking at how to get government out of our lives.

It is the work of the state to think for the people and plan for the people.

Can government really be active and, at the same time, limited? History suggests otherwise.

I'm not here today to tell you government doesn't have a role to play. It does, but it needs to be the right role.

I would prefer the [USA] government to be the policeman and not the businessman.