Legitimacy Quotes

• Respect for human rights is not social work; it is not merely an act of compassion. It is the first obligation of government and the source of its legitimacy.

  Ronald Reagan

  Compassion, Rights, Government

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• Unless the Security Council is restored to its pre-eminent position as the sole source of legitimacy on the use of force, we are on a dangerous path to anarchy.

  Kofi Annan

  Use, Anarchy, Path

  Daily Press Briefing Of Office Of Spokesman For Secretary-General, www.un.org. May 18, 1999.

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• In New York -- whose subway trains in particular have been ''tattooed'' with an energy to put our own rude practitioners to shame -- not an inch of free space is spared except that of advertisements . Even the most chronically dispossessed appear prepared to endorse the legitimacy of the ''haves.

  Gilbert Adair

  New York, Space, Rude

  Gilbert Adair (1986). “Myths & memories”, HarperCollins

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.

  John C. Maxwell

  Inspirational, Speak, Transparency

  261 Copy quote

• Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace. Big corporations fix prices among themselves and thus drive out of business the small entrepreneur. Also, in their conglomerate form, the huge corporations have begun to challenge the very legitimacy of the state.

  Gore Vidal

  Oil, Agriculture, Entrepreneur

  Gore Vidal (1978). “Matters of fact and of fiction: essays, 1973-1976”, Vintage

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• Society gives legitimacy and society can take it away.

  Willis Harman

  Giving

  6 Copy quote

• When governments go too far to punish people for actions that are dissent rather than a real threat to the nation, they risk delegitimizing not just their systems of justice, but the legitimacy of the government itself. Because when they bring political charges against people for acts that were clearly at least intended to work in the public interest, they deny them the opportunity to mount a public-interest defense.

  Edward Snowden

  Real, Opportunity, Government

  Source: www.thenation.com

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life. To make this a living force and bring it to clear consciousness is perhaps the foremost task of education. The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action.

  Albert Einstein

  Giving, Doubt, Balance

  Albert Einstein (2013). “Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives”, p.95, Princeton University Press

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• This country exists as the fulfillment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy.

  Golda Meir

  Country, Israel, Promise

  Le Monde, October 15, 1971.

  57 Copy quote

  Show source

• Our efforts are not aimed at isolating Israel or de-legitimizing it; rather we want to gain legitimacy for the cause of the people of Palestine. We only aim to de-legitimize the settlement activities and the occupation and apartheid and the logic of ruthless force, and we believe that all the countries of the world stand with us in this regard.

  Mahmoud Abbas

  Country, Believe, Countries Of The World

  25 Copy quote

• The legitimacy of the leadership depends on what that country thinks of its leaders.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Country, Thinking, Leader

  "Here’s What Zbigniew Brzezinski Thought of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Iranian Nukes". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. September/October 2008.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.

  Lord Acton

  Government, Political, Essentials

  36 Copy quote

• There is no reason to accept the doctrines crafted to sustain power and privilege, or to believe that we are constrained by mysterious and unknown social laws. These are simply decisions made within institutions that are subject to human will and that must face the test of legitimacy. And if they do not meet the test, they can be replaced by other institutions that are more free and more just, as has happened often in the past.

  Noam Chomsky

  Believe, Acceptance, Past

  11 Copy quote

• In a world of increasing inequality, the legitimacy of institutions that give precedence to the property rights of 'the Haves' over the human rights of 'the Have Nots' is inevitably called into serious question.

  David Korten

  Rights, Giving, World

  David C. Korten (2011). “Globalizing Civil Society: Reclaiming Our Right to Power”, p.23, Seven Stories Press

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Legitimacy, when challenged, bases itself on an appeal to the past, while justification relates to an end that lies in the future. Violence can be justifiable, but it never will be legitimate.

  Hannah Arendt

  Lying, Past, Violence

  Hannah Arendt (1972). “Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics; Civil Disobedience; On Violence; Thoughts on Politics and Revolution”, p.161, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Any international system must have two key elements for it to work. One, it has to have a certain equilibrium of power that makes overthrowing the system difficult and costly. Secondly, it has to have a sense of legitimacy.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Keys, Two, Elements

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Justice has taken its course and the authority and legitimacy of the legal process must be respected.

  Kofi Annan

  Taken, Justice, Authority

  6 Copy quote

• Force loses its legitimacy when it is used instead of free and open discussion.

  Gustavo de Greiff

  War, Drug, Used

  8 Copy quote

• War and preparations for war have acquired a kind of legitimacy.

  Alva Myrdal

  War, Preparation, Kind

  Alva Myrdal, Cecilia Åse, Yvonne Hirdman (2002). “"Något kan man väl göra: texter 1932-1982”

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• There can be no reproach to pain unless we assume human dignity, there is no reason for restraints on pleasure unless we assume human worth, there is no legitimacy to monotony unless we assume a greater purpose to life, there is no purpose to life unless we assume design, death has no significance unless we seek what is everlasting.

  Ravi Zacharias

  Pain, Design, Purpose

  FaceBook post by Ravi Zacharias from Oct 16, 2016

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• Violence from protesters themselves is extremely rare, but has been made into a talking point by those who stand to benefit from breaking the perceived legitimacy of organized protest and resistance. Organized, disciplined nonviolent resistance is alive and well, and we see it all around us in cities across the country.

  Nate Powell

  Country, Talking, Cities

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• A timeline for bringing U.S. troops home that is negotiated with the Iraqi government would also boost the Iraqi government's legitimacy and claim to self-rule, and force the Iraqi government to take responsibility for itself and its citizens.

  Peter DeFazio

  Home, Responsibility, Government

  8 Copy quote

• Drafting a constitution is only the first step. The constitution has to be granted legitimacy by open discussion and a fair, representative referendum.

  Emma Bonino

  Firsts, Steps, Constitution

  12 Copy quote

• In November 2000, the Republicans stole from America our most precious right of all: the right to free and fair elections... Now President Bush occupies the White House, but with questionable legitimacy.

  Cynthia McKinney

  White, America, House

  9 Copy quote

• I certainly saw science as a kind of calling, and one with as much legitimacy as a religious calling.

  Joshua Lederberg

  Religious, Calling, Saws

  8 Copy quote