Civics Quotes

• Distrust of authority should be the first civic duty.

  Norman Douglas

  Firsts, Authority, Should

  Norman Douglas (1922). “Alone”

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• Equality does not mean that all plants must grow to the same height - a society of tall grass and dwarf trees, a jostle of conflicting jealousies. It means, in civic terms, an equal outlet for all talents; in political terms, that all votes will carry the same weight; and in religious terms that all beliefs will enjoy equal rights.

  Victor Hugo

  Religious, Mean, Dwarves

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• To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is.

  David McCullough

  Art, Responsibility, Alive

  FaceBook post by David McCullough from Aug 06, 2012

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• Americanization means the process of becoming an American. It means civic incorporation, becoming a part of the polity - becoming one of us. But that does not mean conformity. We are more than a melting pot, we are a kaleidoscope, where every turn of history refracts new light on the old promise.

  Barbara Jordan

  Mean, Light, Becoming One

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• Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.

  Thomas Ehrlich

  Motivation, Mean, Skills

  Thomas Ehrlich (2000). “Civic Responsibility and Higher Education”, p.6, Greenwood Publishing Group

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  Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

  James Madison

  Education, Wisdom, Freedom

  1822; cited in U.S. Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots (1975).

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• By its very definition, civic responsibility means taking a healthy role in the life of one's community. That means that classroom lessons should be complemented by work outside the classroom. Service-learning does just that, tying community service to academic learning.

  John Glenn

  Mean, Responsibility, Work Out

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• No nation can be really great unless it is great in peace, in industry, integrity, honesty. Skilled intelligence in civic affairs and industrial enterprises alike; the special ability of the artist, the man of letters, the man of science, and the man of business; the rigid determination to wrong no man, and to stand for righteousness-all these are necessary in a great nation.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Determination, Honesty, Integrity

  Theodore Roosevelt (1897). “The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: American ideals. Administration-Civil service”

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• Without civic morality communities perish; without personal morality their survival has no value.

  Bertrand Russell

  Community, Survival, Morality

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.336, Routledge

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• Democratic dissent is not disloyalty, it is a positive civic duty.

  Shami Chakrabarti

  Disloyalty, Democratic, Duty

  "Biography/ Trivia". www.imdb.com.

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• The first lesson in civics is that efficient government begins at home.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Home, Government, Lessons

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• Every country that aspires to become a nation needs its heroes, its eminent civic and moral leaders, and if it doesn't have them, it's our duty to invent them.

  Rosario Ferre

  Country, Hero, Leader

  Rosario Ferré (1996). “Sweet Diamond Dust: And Other Stories”, Plume Books

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• Civic education and civic responsibility should be taught in elementary school.

  Donna Brazile

  School, Responsibility, Taught

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• A constitutional democracy is in serious trouble if its citizenry does not have a certain degree of education and civic virtue.

  Phillip E. Johnson

  Democracy, Degrees, Doe

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• My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Country

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• Civic participants don't aim to make life better merely for members of the group. They want to improve even the lives of people who never participate.

  Clay Shirky

  People, Groups, Want

  Clay Shirky (2010). “Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators”, p.108, Penguin

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• Voting is a civic sacrament.

  Theodore Hesburgh

  Political, Voting, Politics

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• You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.

  Arthur Ashe

  Sports, Learning, Equality

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• The kinds of people we need in government are precisely the kinds of people who are most reluctant to go into government -- people who understand the inherent dangers of power and feel a distaste for using it, but who may do so for a few years as a civic duty. The worst kind of people to have in government are those who see it as a golden opportunity to impose their own superior wisdom and virtue on others.

  Thomas Sowell

  Leadership, Opportunity, Government

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Controversial Essays”, p.316, Hoover Press

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• Third, and finally, the educated citizen has an obligation to uphold the law. This is the obligation of every citizen in a free and peaceful society--but the educated citizen has a special responsibility by the virtue of his greater understanding. For whether he has ever studied history or current events, ethics or civics, the rules of a profession or the tools of a trade, he knows that only a respect for the law makes it possible for free men to dwell together in peace and progress.

  John F. Kennedy

  Responsibility, Men, Law

  Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address, delivered 18 May 1963, Vanderbilt University Stadium, Nashville Tennessee

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• Our disregard of civic and moral virtue as an educational priority is having a tangible effect on the attitudes, understanding and behavior of large portions of the youth population in the United States today.

  William Damon

  Attitude, Educational, Priorities

  William Damon (2014). “Failing Liberty 101: How We Are Leaving Young Americans Unprepared for Citizenship in a Free Society”, p.3, Hoover Institution Press

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• Civics is not only how to run the country before it's your turn to run the country; it is, in fact, the study of power, practical political power. And you must start that process at an age level when kids' brains are still open and malleable.

  Richard Dreyfuss

  Running, Country, Kids

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• Our civic society is really all we have by way of nationhood.

  Cokie Roberts

  Way

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• I think there is a new awareness in this 21st century that design is as important to where and how we live as it is for museums, concert halls and civic buildings.

  Daniel Libeskind

  Death, Thinking, Museums

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• It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a consciousness of their mission and welds them into unity.

  Benito Mussolini

  Giving, Unity, Citizens

  Benito Mussolini (2012). “My Autobiography: With "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism"”, p.237, Courier Corporation

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