Public Servants Quotes - Page 2

• If active or concerned citizens forfeit politics, they thereby abandon their society to its most mediocre and venal public servants

  Tony Judt

  Citizens, Forfeit, Mediocre

  Tony Judt (2010). “Ill Fares the Land”, p.84, Penguin

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• It's not really the job of a public servant to inspire, but to get the job that the people demand done. The Democrats think that if they have hope and are inspired, things will get better, but they actually won't.

  Roseanne Barr

  Jobs, Thinking, People

  "Experience vs. Inspiration" by Roseanne Barr, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 22, 2008.

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• I am not a politician or a public servant. I am still a journeyman actor and a peace and justice activist. I'm a pilgrim trying to win my freedom and serve as best I can in the time I have, with this gift I've been given.

  Martin Sheen

  Winning, Justice, Trying

  Source: progressive.org

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• I believe if a private citizen is able to affect public opinion in a constructive way, he doesn't have to be an elected public servant to perform a public service.

  Warren Beatty

  Believe, House, Public Opinion

  "Senator Bulworth vs. the Terminator" by Bill Schneider, www.cnn.com. September 23, 2005.

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• The heroes who emerged first from the rubble of the September 11 attacks were not politicians or generals and they didnt become household names in the months that followed. They were, instead, public servants who continued to work day in and day out to protect our communities and ensure hometown security.

  Ben Nelson

  Hero, Names, Community

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• Firefighters are some of the most selfless public servants you will ever encounter.

  Denis Leary

  Firefighter, Encounters, Selfless

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• Let us, while never forgetting our womanhood, drop all emphasis on sex, and put it on being public servants.

  Bertha Knight Landes

  Sex, Feminist, Never Forget

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• Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens; and the same circumstance, by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite public agents to corruption, plunder and waste.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Distance, Eye

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”, p.437

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• I think that the only time we will really know what then-President Trump is going to do about the set of challenges that confront him is after he has sat down with his advisers as the commander in chief, when he's looking at the threats and the intelligence from the standpoint of being the number one decider, when he's hearing from his secretary of defense, his chairman, who was the same chairman President Obama had, Chairman Joe Dunford, who is an outstanding public servant, who has led our anti-ISIL effort, on which we're making great progress.

  Samantha Power

  Thinking, Numbers, Effort

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Ever since its founding in 1913, the Fed has described itself as an "independent" agency operated by selfless public servants striving to "fine-tune" the economy through monetary policy. In reality, however, a non-political governmental institution is as likely as a barking cat.

  Thomas DiLorenzo

  Cat, Independent, Reality

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• I'm very old-fashioned in some ways because of my father, who thought that being a public servant was an honor. Everyone must find a capacity in which they can serve, because we all benefit from society.

  Kathleen Turner

  Father, Honor, Benefits

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• Public servants are paid to serve the American people. Do it well.

  Donald Rumsfeld

  People, Servant, Wells

  Donald Rumsfeld (2001). “Public Statements of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 2001”

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• We call ourselves public servants but I'll tell you this: we as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good.

  Barbara Jordan

  Sea, People, Example

  1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, delivered 12 July 1976, New York, NY

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• Being a public servant, this is a serious job, not like a boxer, you're entertaining people.

  Manny Pacquiao

  Jobs, People, Boxers

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• Because technically actors are just public servants really. They just tell stories because people need to be told stories. That's all it is. And yet we get treated as though we're important.

  James McAvoy

  People, Important, Needs

  "The real McAvoy". Interview with Harriet Lane, www.theguardian.com. October 15, 2006.

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• We need to remember that the separation of church and state must never mean the separation of religious values from the lives of public servants. . . If we who serve free men today are to differ from the tyrants of this age, we must balance the powers in our hands with God in our hearts.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Religious, Mean, Heart

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• I have a huge admiration for the House of Lords, I have a huge admiration for the people who work in the House of Lords, they're great public servants and they do an absolutely tremendous job.

  John Major

  Jobs, People, House

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• The way things are supposed to work is that we're supposed to know virtually everything about what they [the government] do: that's why they're called public servants. They're supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that's why we're called private individuals.

  Glenn Greenwald

  Government, Way, Individual

  “On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation” by Glenn Greenwald, www.theguardian.com. June 7, 2013.

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• Being a politician means never having to say you're sorry. You don't have to say, 'I never should have voted to subsidize that ridiculous Enron project in India.' ... After all, they're greedy businessmen and you're a selfless public servant.

  Harry Browne

  Sorry, Mean, Should Have

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• Let the record show that you can be a United States senator for 21 years. You can be 79 years old. You can be the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and one of the most recognizable and widely-respected veteran public servants in your nation. But if you are female while all of those things, men who you defeat in arguments will still respond to you by calling you hysterical and telling you to calm down. They'll patronize you and say they admire your passion, 'sweetie,' but they deal in facts, not your silly, girly feelings. It's inescapable. You can set your watch by it.

  Dianne Feinstein

  Girly, Silly, Passion

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• A good king is a public servant.

  Ben Jonson

  Kings, Good Kings, Servant

  Ben Jonson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ben Jonson (Illustrated)”, p.3197, Delphi Classics

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• I find that the great majority of public servants across the entire political spectrum come because they believe in the United States and they want to change the world.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Believe, Political, Majority

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• Everything that I've accomplished in life was because of America and because of California, so I should take seven years out of my life to be a public servant and to serve the people of California regardless of the lack of pay.

  Arnold Schwarzenegger

  Years, California, America

  Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

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• For more than eight decades, Washington has been my hometown. ... It is a city that offers me more people -- more different kinds of people -- than I could otherwise possibly have come to know in a lifetime: the native Washingtonian, the local merchant, the foreign diplomat, the ever-present tourist, the public servant, the journalist, the president, the friend.

  Katharine Graham

  Eight, Cities, People

  Katharine Graham (2009). “Katharine Graham's Washington”, p.16, Vintage

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• It's incumbent on good public servants to maintain their voices and originality of thinking.

  Ronan Farrow

  Thinking, Voice, Originality

  "Ronan Farrow making mark as diplomat at young age". Interview with Leah Garchik, www.sfgate.com. May 16, 2012.

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