Michael Lewis Quotes

Government can’t deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can, however, determine who pays for lunch.

Taxes are not good things, but if you want services, somebody's got to pay for them, so they're a necessary evil

The American people want more from government than they are willing to pay for in taxes.

We want the benefits of government services ranging from security in our old age to the best national defense possible, but we scream when the bill for these services comes due in the form of higher taxes.

Voters want conflicting things. They want a lot of government spending, but they don't want higher taxes.

Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.

Something got screwed up in terms of your priorities if you think it's more important to get rid of the dividend tax than it is to take care of 11 million kids.

There's no reason to raise taxes. Taxes should be lower... The problem we have is that government spends too much, not that taxes are too low.

Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.

Nobody wants to pay higher taxes. But do you want your kids to get a good education? You have to pay for that. Do you want Medicare for senior citizens? I do. We have to pay for it.

Remember that government doesn't earn one single dollar it spends. In order for you to get money from the government, that money must first be taken from somebody else.

Many of the Western democracies - including the U.S. - have a problem that voters want benefits they don't want to pay for.

John F. Kennedy asked us what we could do for America. This Democratic Party asks what can government give you. Don't worry about paying the bill, it's on your kids and grandkids.

What the government gives it must first take away.

Taxes are what pays for a civilized society.

You have got to be willing to pay for the government you want.

Most Americans want their government to be smaller, not larger; they want their taxes to be lower, not higher.

The role of government is to tax the people to the least extent possible while still taxing them enough to cover the basic needs for government.

I don't give my money to the government.

More taxes mean more money to spend for public welfare.

What does it mean when Republicans and Democrats alike warn us about the 'pain' involved in cutting government spending - in their spending less of our money? For the average citizen, what pain is there in his keeping more of his money to invest it the way he wants? Taxes cost people. Tax cuts do not cost government.

We need to have more taxes, not less, and we need the taxes we have, certainly, to provide services - for defense and education and health care. We should not cut money here in order to cut taxes.

I'm not going to raise taxes; I'm not going to have a wage increase for public employees.

It is day after day in this institution, borrow money, run up the debt, run up the deficits and then with a straight face say, we are going to repeal a tax that affects 1 percent of the American people, just 1 percent of the American people.

But the point you need to know is that no president at war cut taxes $1.5 trillion, like Bush did.