who said the government is best which governs least
Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) An aphorism often erroneously attributed to Thomas Jefferson,[15] "That government is best which governs least...", was actually found in Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. Thoreau was apparently paraphrasing the motto of The United States Magazine and Democratic Review: "The best government is that which governs least."[16] Thoreau expanded it significantly: