evidence: I’d like to know who originally said, "That government is best which governs least." When trying to find the origin, I’ve run across John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine. Who actually said this? John L. O’Sullivan, the journalist and diplomat who also coined the phrase "manifest destiny," is quoted by The Yale Book of Quotations as writing "The best government is that which governs least" in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, October 1, 1837. Earlier, Jonathan Shipley wrote in 1773 that "The true art of government consist in not governing too much."