Classical liberalism does generally favor limited government, free markets, and strong protections for individual liberty, so the claim captures a real tendency. But it overstates the case: the Stanford Encyclopedia says classical liberalism is a spectrum ranging from near-anarchist views to positions that assign the state a significant role in economic and social policy, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia notes that classical liberals have also accepted government roles in public goods and even a modest safety net. So it is fair to say many classical liberals dislike expansive state power, but not accurate to say classical liberals as a group “hate the big state.” Sources: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Liberalism” https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberalism/index.html; Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, “Liberalism” https://web.sas.upenn.edu/sfreeman/files/2018/07/liberalism_oup_encyclopedia_politics-1o2lwvr.pdf.