A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.

Barry Goldwater, the Arizona senator who became the Republican presidential nominee in 1964, built his political identity around limited government, individual liberty, and skepticism toward expansive federal programs. The line is commonly invoked in discussions of the welfare state and regulatory growth, reflecting Cold War–era conservative fears that government provision of benefits can create dependency and concentrate coercive power. Although widely attributed to Goldwater and consistent with the themes of his 1960s speeches and writings (especially his critique of New Deal/Great Society liberalism), the quote often circulates without a precise, reliably citable first appearance in a specific speech, article, or book.

The aphorism argues that governmental capacity is morally and politically double-edged: the same machinery that can distribute goods, services, or protections can also confiscate property, restrict freedoms, or withdraw support. It frames “giving” not as pure generosity but as an exercise of power backed by taxation and enforcement. The warning is less about any single policy than about scale and dependency—if citizens come to rely on the state for “all you want,” they may lose leverage to resist when that state changes terms, expands control, or curtails rights. In Goldwater’s worldview, liberty is best preserved by limiting the scope of government to prevent such concentration of authority.

1) “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.”
2) “A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it away.”
3) “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take it all away.”