Who is the author of famous statement: “That Government is the best which governs least”?

The correct answer is: A. Herbert Spencer.

Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era. Spencer’s “survival of the fittest” concept was widely used by later thinkers, including social Darwinists, and was a driving force behind eugenics.

Spencer’s statement “That Government is the best which governs least” is often used to support the idea of limited government. This idea holds that the government should only interfere in people’s lives to the extent necessary to protect their rights and liberties.

The other options are incorrect because:

• Harold Laski was a British political scientist and Labour Party politician. He was a leading figure in the development of British socialism and a strong advocate of workers’ rights.
• Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat, politician, and social theorist who is best known for his work Democracy in America. In this work, Tocqueville analyzed the emerging American democracy and warned of the dangers of tyranny of the majority.
• Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, and naturalist who is best known for his book Walden. In Walden, Thoreau describes his experiment in simple living in the woods near Walden Pond.