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Civic Virtue Quotes

Browse 16 quotes about Civic Virtue.

Civic Virtue Quotes

“When people say things that we find offensive, civic charity asks that we resist the urge to attribute to immorality or prejudice views that can be equally well explained by other motives. It asks us to give the benefit of doubts, the assumption of goodwill, and the gift of attention. When people say things that agree with or respond thoughtfully to our arguments, we acknowledge that they have done so. We compliment where we can do so honestly, and we praise whatever we can legitimately find praiseworthy in their beliefs and their actions. When we argue with a forgiving affection, we recognize that people are often carried away by passions when discussing things of great importance to them. We overlook slights and insults and decline to respond in kind. We apologize when we get something wrong or when we hurt someone's feelings, and we allow others to apologize to us when they do the same. When people don't apologize, we still don't hold grudges or hurt them intentionally, even if we feel that they have intentionally hurt us. If somebody is abusive or obnoxious, we may decline to participate in further conversation, but we don't retaliate or attempt to make them suffer. And we try really hard not to give in to the overwhelming feeling that arguments must be won - and opponents destroyed - if we want to protect our own status or sense of worth. We never forget that our opponents are human beings who possess innate dignity and fellow citizens who deserve respect.”

Politics Kindness Ethics Charity Civility Arguments Civic Virtue

Book:We Must Not Be Enemies: Restoring America's Civic Tradition

Source: We Must Not Be Enemies: Restoring America's Civic Tradition

“Democracy is not simply a license to indulge individual whims and proclivities. It is also holding oneself accountable to some reasonable degree for the conditions of peace and chaos that impact the lives of those who inhabit one’s beloved extended community.”

Source: Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“Civic sense without common sense leads to mob violence.”

Democracy Social Justice Civil Rights Political Science Civic Duty Mob Rule Civic Responsibility Civic Virtue Mob Violence

Book:Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science

Source: Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science

“There could never be enough rules so finely crafted as to anticipate and cover every situation, and even if there were, enforcement would be impossibly expensive and burdensome. This approach leads to diminished freedom for everyone...In the end, it is only an internal moral compass in each individual that can effectively deal with the root causes as well as the symptoms of societal decay. Societies will struggle in vain to establish the common good until sin is denounced as sin and moral discipline takes its place in the pantheon of civic virtues.”

“Every nation-state tends towards the imperial - that is the point. Through banks, armies, secret police, propaganda, courts and jails, treaties, taxes, laws and orders, myths of civil obedience, assumptions of civic virtue at the top.”

Source: The Nightmare of God: The Book of Revelation

“Competing against each other leaves little space for reciprocity and the growth of social capital. Running against another in a race may benefit our speed, but jointly organising the sports day produces cooperation and trust. There are many situations where cooperation and reciprocity are more effective than competition. Civic virtues come from building on what we have in common rather than by using our differences to create in-groups, outgroups and fear driven competition”

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

Ifs Doe Certain Virtue Democracy Trouble Serious Degrees Civics Citizenry Civic Virtue

Author:Phillip E. Johnson

“The American founders, when framing their governments, looked to the Bible for insights into human nature, civic virtue, social order, political authority and other concepts essential to the establishment of a political society. They saw in Scripture political and legal models - such as republicanism, separation of powers, and due process of law - that they believed enjoyed divine favor and were worthy of emulation in their polities.”

“Every nation-state tends towards the imperial - that is the point. Through banks, armies, secret police, propaganda, courts and jails, treaties, taxes, laws and orders, myths of civil obedience, assumptions of civic virtue at the top. Still it should be said of the political left, we expect something better. And correctly. We put more trust in those who show a measure of compassion, who denounce the hideous social arrangements that make war inevitable and human desire omnipresent; which fosters corporate selfishness, panders to appetites and disorder, waste the earth.”

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

Giving States Consciousness Virtue Citizens Unity Missions Educate Civics Civic Duty Civic Virtue

Book:My Autobiography: With

Source: My Autobiography: With

“Thus we can see that – at least at the level of economics – democracy is a sort of slow-motion suicide, in which you are told that it is the highest civic virtue to approve of those who want to rob you.”

Want Levels Virtue Democracy Highest Economics Suicide Civics Slow Motion Civic Virtue

Author:Stefan Molyneux

“It's a civic virtue to be exposed to things that appear to be outside your interest. In a complex world, almost everything affects you – that closes the loop on pecuniary self-interest. Customers are always right, but people aren't.”

People World Self Interest Virtue Complexes Customers Exposed Self Interest Civics Loops Civic Virtue

Book:The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think

Source: The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think

“Distrust of authority should be the first civic duty.”

Should Firsts Duty Authority Distrust Civics Civic Duty Civic Virtue

Book:Alone

Source: Alone

“A God who chastises our lack of faith, our vices, the little esteem in which we hold dignity and the civic virtues. We tolerate vice, we make ourselves its accomplices, at times we applaud it, and it is just, very just that we suffer the consequences, that our children suffer them. It is the God of liberty ... who obliges us to love it, by making the yoke heavy for us - a God of mercy, of equity, who while He chastises us betters us and only grants prosperity to him who has merited it through his efforts. The school of suffering tempers, the arena of combat strengthens the soul.”

Source: The reign of greed: a complete English version of El Filibusterismo from the Spanish

“Those who enjoy the blessings of liberty under a divinely inspired constitution should promote morality, and they should practice what the Founding Fathers called civic virtue.”

Should America Father Enjoy Liberty Practice Virtue Morality Blessing Constitution Inspired Founding Civics Civic Virtue

Author:Dallin H. Oaks

“Citizens ... should be practitioners of civic virtue in their conduct toward government. They should be ever willing to fulfill the duties of citizenship. This includes compulsory duties like military service and the numerous voluntary actions they must take if they are to preserve the principle of limited government through citizen self-reliance.”