Civil Society Quotes - Page 7

• Stability in government is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which are among the chief blessings of civil society.

  James Madison

  Character, Patriotic, Blessing

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Quentin P. Taylor, John Jay (1998). “The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers”, p.73, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Pluralist societies are not accidents of history. They are a product of enlightened education and continuous investment by governments and all of civil society in recognizing and celebrating the diversity of the world's peoples.

  Aga Khan IV

  Government, Diversity, World

  Speech on Democratic Development, Pluralism and Civil Society delivered at the Nobel Institute, Oslo, Norway, www.akdn.org. April 07, 2005.

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• It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage...Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.

  James Madison

  Men, Religion, Members

  "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments To the Honorable the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia" by James Madison, June 20, 1785.

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• The 21st century will be the Asian century. This also means that Asians will be expected to provide greater leadership to solve global challenges, including environmental challenges. Hence, this multi-disciplinary programme from NUS could not be more timely. It meets a pressing need to educate, train and empower leading players in the public, private and civil society sectors in Singapore, Asia and the world.

  Kishore Mahbubani

  Mean, Player, Empowering

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• Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land.

  James Monroe

  Religious, Godly, Men

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• Few enjoyments are given from the open and liberal hand of nature; but by art, labor and industry we can extract them in great abundance. Hence, the ideas of property become necessary in all civil society.

  David Hume

  Art, Hands, Ideas

  David Hume (1758). “Essays and Treatises on several subjects, etc. New edition”, p.411

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• In a democracy, it is the people who are sovereign. Therefore, with regard to the promotion of democracy at the local, country and regional levels, civil society must have a stronger voice in all political processes.

  Alfred-Maurice de Zayas

  Country, Voice, People

  "Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred-Maurice de Zayas". July 01, 2013.

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• Security against foreign danger is one of the primitive objects of civil society. It is an avowed and essential object of the American Union.

  James Madison

  Essentials, Unions, Danger

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government”, p.220, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• No man will subject himself to the ridicule of pretending that any natural connection subsists between the sun or the seasons, and the period within which human virtue can bear the temptations of power. Happily for mankind, liberty is not, in this respect, confined to any single point of time, but lies within extremes, which afford sufficient latitude for all the variations which may be required by the various situations and circumstances of civil society.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Lying, Men

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2003). “The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus”, p.260, Cambridge University Press

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• When you have a liberal class that no longer functions, when those people who traditionally defend and care about a civil society no longer do so, then you cede power to very frightening, deformed figures, all of which we are watching leap up around the fringes of our political establishment - this lunatic fringe, which has largely taken over the Republican Party.

  Chris Hedges

  Party, Taken, Class

  Interview with David Barsamian, www.sharedhost.progressive.org. July 14, 2011.

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• Because I am a deep believer in the civil society, I think we should be prepared to pay the consequences of breaking the law and that is either paying the penalty for it, or leaving the country.

  Pierre Trudeau

  Country, Thinking, Law

  Source: presbyterianrecord.ca

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• The International Court of Justice (a.k.a. World Court) is the judicial branch of the United Nations and in the early 1990's a campaign started and it was supported by civil society non-governmental groups around the world.

  John Burroughs

  Justice, Groups, Campaigns

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• Yet it would be unfair to the generality of our kind to ascribe to their intellectual and moral weakness the gradual divergence of Buddhism and Christianity from their primitive patterns. For it should not be forgotten that by their glorification of poverty and celibacy both these religions struck straight at the root not merely of civil society but of human existence. The blow was parried by the wisdom or the folly of the vast majority of mankind, who refused to purchase a chance of saving their souls with the certainty of extinguishing the species.

  James G. Frazer

  Buddhism, Blow, Roots

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• Places matter. Their rules, their scale, their design include or exclude civil society, pedestrianism, equality, diversity (economic and otherwise), understanding of where water comes from and garbage goes, consumption or conservation. They map our lives.

  Rebecca Solnit

  Water, Diversity, Design

  Rebecca Solnit (2008). “Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics”, p.9, Univ of California Press

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• I have no argument with those who see in organized religion a template or an imperative to live life according to a prescribed set of beliefs. Just give others the room, within the laws of civil society, to believe or not believe whatever they like.

  Michael J. Fox

  Believe, Live Life, Law

  Michael J. Fox (2011). “Always Looking Up”, p.161, Random House

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• The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society.

  James Madison

  Men, Causes, Degrees

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.48, Coventry House Publishing

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• No form of theocracy, whether it's manifested in a violent or non-violent form, is ever good for civilisation, and we have to challenge it in civil society as well as we would challenge Christian-based theocracy, or any other form of bigotry.

  Maajid Nawaz

  Christian, Challenges, Violent

  Source: www.abc.net.au

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• Early on, America took one path and went down the advertising road, and in the UK they founded the BBC and developed a different kind of public broadcasting. There was a point where TV was so beholden to commercial interest that people - civil society - actually rose up and said, "This is ridiculous: we have our soap-selling soap operas, cigarette-sponsored news broadcast; we have our rigged quiz shows - let's put some checks and balances here."

  Astra Taylor

  America, People, Rose

  Source: therumpus.net

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• If we want to understand the distinctive constitution of Europe, we must go back to its religious foundations. For the moral beliefs which Christianity fostered still underpin civil society in Europe, the institutions that surround us.

  Larry Siedentop

  Religious, Europe, Foundation

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• When people get out of jail, it is not easy for them to find a job. It is not easy for them to return to civil society.

  Bernie Sanders

  Jobs, Jail, People

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• The main drawback, of course, was cost. Participating effectively in World Summit on the Information Society was very expensive for both developing countries and (especially) civil society.

  David Souter

  Country, Cost, World

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• The greatest failure is that although we have created institutions, we have not created a civil society.

  Paddy Ashdown

  Institutions

  "The Politics of Appeasement — Again and Again??" by Jane Wells, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 2, 2005.

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• The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him was the true founder of civil society. What crimes, wars, murders, what miseries and horrors would the human race have been spared, had some one pulled up the stakes or filled in the ditch and cried out to his fellow men: "Do not listen to this imposter. You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and the earth to no one!

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  War, Believe, Men

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2010). “The Basic Political Writings (Second Edition)”, p.69, Hackett Publishing

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• When carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense
  is understood NOT as a failure of civil society,
  to be mourned,
  but as an act of citizenship,
  to be vaunted,
  there is little civilian life left.

  Jill Lepore

  Self, Defense, Littles

  "Battleground America". www.newyorker.com. April 23, 2012.

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