"Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins ... Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." -- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all." --Frederic Bastiat, ca. 1837
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." -- James Madison
"Compassion comes from the heart, not the government." -- Edward Britton
"Government is not compassion ... Government is nothing more than structured, widespread coercion ..." -- Glen Allport
"The greater the desire to perform humanitarian deeds through legislation, the greater the violence required to achieve it." -- Ron Paul
"Benevolence in public institutions has a short half-life no matter how noble its original intentions." -- Richard A. Epstein, Principles for a Free Society
"Helping the poor through the government is like feeding the sparrows through cows" -- Walter Williams
"It is easy to be conspicuously 'compassionate' if others are being forced to pay the cost." -- Murray N. Rothbard
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence -- it is force." -- George Washington
"The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes." -- Thomas Paine
"Jesus would never use government surrogates to force the people to 'help others'." -- Philip Freneau
Them are some keepers.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
-- C.S. Lewis