Welfare should be a safety-net, not a hammock.

-Anonymous
  In NPR broadcast,12 Mar.

   In future, welfare will be a hand-up, not a hand-out.

-Blair,Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton)
  Lecture, London,18 Mar.

   It is a general popular error to imagine the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.

-Burke, Edmund
  Observations on a LatePublication on thePresentState of the Nation, 2nd edn.

Welfare is hated by those who administer it; mistrusted by those who pay for it; and held in contempt by those who receive it.

-Goldmark, Peter Carl,Jr
  In the NewYork Times, 24 May.

For I spend all my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to make your first and chief concern not for your bodies nor for your possessions, but for the highest welfare of your souls, proclaiming as Igo,Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state.

-Plato
Apology, 30b (translated by H Tredennick).

The government may tomorrow withdraw every one of their troopsfrom Ireland.Ireland will be defended by her armed sons from foreign invasion, and for that purpose the armed Catholics in the south will be only too glad to join arms with the armed Protestant Ulsterman. Is it too muchtohope that out of thissituation a result mayspring that will be good not merely for the Empire but for the future welfare and integrity of the Irish nation?

-Redmond,John Edward
  Speech, House of Commons, 3 Aug.

For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist.Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country.

-Wilson, Charles called 'Engine Charlie'
  Statement to US Senate, Committee on Armed Services, Jan.