Civil Servants Quotes

• With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help.

  Otto von Bismarck

  Law, Helping, Servant

  51 Copy quote

• After a time, civil servants tend to become no longer servants and no longer civil.

  Winston Churchill

  Political, Term Limits, Politics

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• A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon - it won't work and you can't fire it.

  George S. Patton

  Fire, Government, Broken

  82 Copy quote

• The civil servant is primarily the master of the short-term solution.

  Indira Gandhi

  Masters, Bureaucracy, Term

  Indira Gandhi (1975). “India: The Speeches and Reminiscences of Indira Gandhi”

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• It's the most rewarding thing to be a civil servant.

  Sargent Shriver

  Hippie, Servant

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• There are very many characteristics which go into making a model civil servant. Prominent among them are probity, industry, good sense, good habits, good temper, patience, order, courtesy, tact, self-reliance, many deference to superior officers, and many consideration for inferiors.

  Chester A. Arthur

  Order, Self, Habit

  First annual message, 1881.

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• The Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers are one team. The Cabinet Ministers and the State Ministers are another team. The Civil Servants at the Centre and the States are yet another team. This is the only way we can successfully develop India.

  Narendra Modi

  Team, Cabinets, India

  Source: www.deccanchronicle.com

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• Some civil servants are neither servants nor civil.

  Winston Churchill

  Servant

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• Not all civil servants admire strong political leadership. But if you want to change things for the better you need strong political leadership.

  Harriet Harman

  Change, Strong, Political

  "Brown Accused of 'Ruthlessness'". news.bbc.co.uk. March 20, 2007.

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• Britain has invented a new missile. It's called the civil servant - it doesn't work and it can't be fired.

  Walter Walker

  Benches, Britain, Bureaucracy

  64 Copy quote

• Civil servants take forever to do anything.

  Joseph Wambaugh

  Hippie, Forever, Servant

  Interview with Ann Bruns, www.bookreporter.com. May 17, 2002.

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• One of the keys to ensuring accountability is to have civil servants who witness fraud, waste and abuse to blow the whistle.

  Byron Dorgan

  Blow, Civilization, Keys

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• In a mature society, 'civil servant' is semantically equal to 'civil master.'

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Mature, Masters, Equal

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.228, Penguin

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• I'm a statistic in a system that a civil servant dominates.

  Billy Joel

  Politics, Servant

  Song: Running On Ice, Album: The Bridge, 1986

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• Give a civil servant a good case and he'll wreck it with clichés, bad punctuation, double negatives, and convoluted apology.

  Alan Clark

  Work, Apology, Giving

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• In a massive, long-term study of 17,000 civil servants, an almost unbelievable conclusion emerged: the status of a person's job was more likely to predict their likelihood of a heart attack than obesity, smoking or high blood pressure.

  Matt Ridley

  Jobs, Heart, Blood

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• A civil servant doesn't make jokes.

  Eugene Ionesco

  Government, Bureaucracy, Servant

  Tuer sans Gages (The Killer) act 1 (1958)

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• You can't be a Red if you're married to a civil servant.

  Doris Lessing

  Hippie, Red, Married

  Doris Lessing (2012). “A Proper Marriage”, p.33, HarperCollins UK

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• The film of tomorrow will not be directed by civil servants of the camera, but by artists for whom shooting a film constitutes a wonderful and thrilling adventure.

  Francois Truffaut

  Travel, Hippie, Adventure

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• We need more people to go into business and fewer wasting our lives becoming bureaucrats and civil servants.

  Michael O'Leary

  People, Needs, Becoming

  Source: www.mirror.co.uk

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• In Downing Street they called me 'Boss'. Civil servants would always call me 'Prime Minister'.

  Tony Blair

  Downing Street, Boss, Prime

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• A president is a high-level official who is elected to carry out a function. He is not a king, not a god. He is not the witch doctor of a tribe who knows everything. He is a civil servant. I think the ideal way of living is to live like the vast majority of people whom we attempt to serve and represent.

  Jose Mujica

  Kings, Powerful, Humble

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• I like the evening in India, the one magic moment when the sun balances on the rim of the world, and the hush descends, and ten thousand civil servants drift homeward on a river of bicycles, brooding on the Lord Krishna and the cost of living.

  James Cameron

  Rivers, Cost Of Living, Magic Moments

  James Cameron (1968). “What a way to run the tribe: selected articles, 1948-67”

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• It is essential for men of science to take an interest in the administration of their own affairs or else the professional civil servant will step in - and then the Lord help you.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Men, Essentials, Administration

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• Temporary teams of trusted people are generally sent to all Departments and to major agencies of government to assist in planning and to acquaint the incoming administration with the civil servants and bureaucracy that will remain in place in the new Administration.

  Richard V. Allen

  Team, Agency, Government

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