Home / Topics / Institutions Quotes

Institutions Quotes

Browse 2514 quotes about Institutions.

Institutions Quotes

“That man is formed for social life is an observation which, upon our first inquiry, presents itself immediately to our view, and our reason approves that wise and generous principle which actuated the first founders of civil government, an institution which hat its origin in the weakness of individuals, and hath for its end the strength and security of all; and so long as the means of effecting this important end are thoroughly known and religiously attended to government is one of the richest blessings to mankind, and ought to be held in the highest veneration”

“In government institutions and in teaching, you need to inspire confidence. To achieve credibility, you have to very clearly explain what you are doing and why. The same principles apply to businesses.”

Needs Government Principles Teaching Achieve Inspire Institutions Credibility

Author:Janet Yellen

“I believe the declaration that ‘all men are created equal’ is the great fundamental principle upon which our free institutions rest.”

Men Believe I Believe Principles Equal Institutions Fundamentals Declaration Be A Slave Fundamental Principles

Book:The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)

Source: The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)

“It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper aim, is most productive of evil. It behooves the well-intentioned, therefore, vigorously to watch the tendency of even their most highly prized institutions, since that which was established in the interests of the right, may so easily become the agent of the wrong.”

Wells May Evil Interest Principles Watches Virtue Society Produce Integrity Aim Institutions Corruption Tendencies Agents Agency Productive Governing

Author:James F. Cooper

“I highly venerate the Masonic Institution, under the fullest persuasion that, when its principles are acknowledged and its laws and precepts obeyed, it comes nearest to the Christian religion, in its moral effects and influence, of any institution with which I am acquainted.”

Christian Law Moral Principles Influence Effects Institutions Persuasion Masonic

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“Any political movement directed against any body of our fellow-citizens because of their religious creed is a grave offense against American principles and American institutions. It is a wicked thing either to support or oppose a man because of the creed he possesses. . . . Such a movement directly contravenes the spirit of the Constitution itself.”

Source: Fear God and Take Your Own Part

“Unless we realize that the essence of Nazism is also an attempt to solve a universal problem of Western civilization - that of the industrial society - and that the basic principles on which the Nazis base this attempt are also in no way confined to Germany, we do not know what we fight for or what we fight against... The war is being fought for the structure of industrial society - its basic principles, its purposes, and its institutions.”

“Subsidiarity is the principle that government works best most responsibly and responsively when it is closest to the people it serves and the needs it addresses. Fiscal accountability is the principle that institutions collecting and disbursing taxes work most responsibly when they are transparent to those providing the money.”

People Needs Government Principles Taxes Institutions Addresses Accountability Providing Closest Transparent Collecting Government Work

Book:Dark Age Ahead

Source: Dark Age Ahead

“Ronald Reagan rebuilt the American presidency; it was in trouble when he came into office as an institution, and he did through his communications and through his own inspiration, and his principles. I think he did lift our spirits about, and convince us that once again that the future of the best, our best days were always ahead of us.”

Thinking Inspiration Spirit Principles Trouble Communication Office Institutions Lifts Convince Presidency Convince Us

Author:David Gergen

“When the basic structure of society is publicly known to satisfy its principles for an extended period of time, those subject to these arrangements tend to develop a desire to act in accordance with these principles and to do their part in institutions which exemplify them”

Desire Known Principles Subjects Periods Institutions Structure Arrangements

Book:A Theory of Justice

Source: A Theory of Justice

“The conservatives have already accepted a large part of the collectivist creed-a creed that has governed policy for so long that many of its institutions have come to be accepted as a matter of course and have become a source of pride to "conservative" parties who created them. Here the believer in freedom cannot but conflict with the conservative and take an essentially radical position, directed against popular prejudices, entrenched positions, and firmly established privileges. Follies and abuses are no better for having long been established principles of folly.”

“Conservatives . . . may decide to join the game and seek activist judges with conservative views. Should that come to pass, those who have tempted the courts to political judging will have gained nothing for themselves but will have destroyed a great and essential institution. . . . There are only two sides. Either the Constitution and statutes are law, which means their principles are known and control judges, or they are malleable texts that judges may rewrite to see that particular groups or political causes win.”

“we have complaints that institutional dominance of the stock market has put 'the small investor at a disadvantage because he can't compete with the trust companies' huge resources, etc. The facts are quite the opposite. It may be that the institutions are better equipped than the individual to speculate in the market.But I am convinced that an individual investor with sound principles, and soundly advised, can do distinctly better over the long pull than large institutions.”

May Long Facts Individual Sound Can Do Company Principles Huge Resources Opposites Institutions Convinced Etc Investors Complaints Disadvantages Dominance

Author:Benjamin Graham

“The Central Bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution.”

Form Principles Constitution Institutions Hostility Central Banks Central Banking

Author:Thomas Jefferson

“A small knowledge of human nature will convince us, that, with far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle... Few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest, or advantage, to the common good. It is vain to exclaim against the depravity of human nature on this account; the fact is so, the experience of every age and nation has proved it and we must in a great measure, change the constitution of man, before we can make it otherwise. No institution, not built on the presumptive truth of these maxims can succeed.”

“Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. Aristotle speaks plainly to this purpose, saying, 'that the institution of youth should be accommodated to that form of government under which they live; forasmuch as it makes exceedingly for the preservation of the present government, whatsoever it be.”

Should Children Government Form Purpose Speak Principles Youth Institutions Educated Preservation Forms Of Government

Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations

Source: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations

“Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely; in full conviction that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceful spirit of Christianity.”

Source: Speeches and Forensic Arguments

“Without wishing to damp the ardor of curiosity or influence the freedom of inquiry, I will hazard a prediction that, after the most industrious and impartial researchers, the longest liver of you all will find no principles, institutions or systems of education more fit in general to be transmitted to your posterity than those you have received from your ancestors.”

Wish Principles Influence Fit Institutions Curiosity Voting Ancestor Predictions Inquiry Posterity Researchers Hazards Liver Damp Industrious Ardor

Author:John Adams

“The National Socialist Movement, which aims at establishing the National Socialist People's State, must always bear steadfastly in mind the principle that every future institution under that State must be rooted in the movement itself.”

People Mind States Principles Movement Bears Aim Institutions Rooted Socialist

Book:Mein Kampf: My Struggle: (Vol. I & Vol. II) - (Complete & Illustrated Edition)

Source: Mein Kampf: My Struggle: (Vol. I & Vol. II) - (Complete & Illustrated Edition)

“Free institutions are not the property of any majority. They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers. The rights of the majority are limited rights. They are limited not only by the constitutional guarantees but by the moral principle implied in those guarantees. That principle is that men may not use the facilities of liberty to impair them. No man may invoke a right in order to destroy it.”

Source: The Essential Lippmann: A Political Philosophy for Liberal Democracy

“I am persuaded myself that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution.”

People May Moments Found Principles Army Institutions Errors Being The Best Governors Good Sense

Book:Jefferson: Political Writings

Source: Jefferson: Political Writings

“Our inspired Constitution is wisely designed to protect from excesses of political power, but it can do little to protect us from the excesses of appetite or from individual indifference to great principles or institutions. Any significant unraveling of the moral fiber of the American people, therefore, finally imperils the Constitution.”

“It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention.”

Political Rooms Principles Rich Genius Constitution Institutions Endure Invention Rooted Shelter Fertility Us Constitution American Constitution

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966

“Organized religion is in substance a mystification, a means of hiding the wickedness of the social system. If the Christian principles of love, equality, and freedom were really practiced instead of only preached, there would be no need for a special institution(the church) to take care of those principles.”

Ifs Needs Mean Would Be Care Christian Social Church Principles Special Institutions Take Care Substance Organized Hiding Wickedness Organized Religion Social Systems

Author:Erich Fromm

“John Stuart Mill believed that the only acceptable reason for government to limit a person's liberty was to prevent him from causing unacceptable harm to others. Mill was not a libertarian, but many libertarians are quick to cite this principle when arguing against a regulation that they oppose. And I believe most thoughtful libertarians are prepared to embrace something fairly close to Mill's harm principle. But accepting that principle implies accepting many of the institutions of the modern welfare state that libertarians have vigorously opposed in the past, such as safety regulation.”

“Culture, what you believe, what you value, how you live matters. Now, as fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debates from time to time, so it is today with the enduring institution of marriage. Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.”

Men Believe May Matter Today Values Culture Principles Institutions Fundamentals Democratic Endure Debate Topics

Author:Mitt Romney

“Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.”

Needs Humans Human Beings Attention Principles Equal Degrees Institutions Equality Dues Recognition Manners Disability Equality Of People Equality For All Human Equality

Book:Selected Essays, 1934-1943: Historical, Political, and Moral Writings

Source: Selected Essays, 1934-1943: Historical, Political, and Moral Writings

“For the authentic revolutionary conservative, what really counts is to be faithful not to past forms and institutions, but rather to principles of which such forms and institutions have been particular expressions, adequate for a specific period of time and in a specific geographical area.”

Has Beens Past Form Principles Particular Expression Periods Areas Institutions Conservative Faithful Revolutionary Adequate Being Faithful

Author:Julius Evola

“The inconsistency of the institution of domestic slavery with the principles of the Declaration of Independence was seen and lamented . . . no insincerity or hypocrisy can be fairly laid to their charge. Never from their lips was heard one syllable of attempt to justify the institution of slavery. They universally considered it as a reproach fastened upon them by the unnatural step-mother country and they saw that before the principles of the Declaration of Independence slavery, in common with every other mode of oppression, was destined sooner or later to be banished from the earth.”

“Time indeed changes manners and notions, and so far we must expect institutions to bend to them. But time produces also corruption of principles, and against this it is the duty of good citizens to be ever on the watch, and if the gangrene is to prevail at last, let the day be kept off as long as possible.”

Ifs Long Lasts Principles Watches Produce Duty Citizens Institutions Notion Corruption Civil Rights Manners Good Citizen

Book:The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826

Source: The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826

“The ultimate success of this government and the stability of its institutions, its progress in all that can make a nation honored, depend upon its adherence to the principles of truth and righteousness.”

Government Nations Liberty Principles Virtue Progress Depends Ultimate Institutions Righteousness Stability Honored Adherence Ultimate Success

Author:Jon Lord

“What a museum chooses to exhibit is sometimes less important than how such decisions are made and what values inform them. To have the crucial role of museum professionals usurped by self-serving tycoons in the name of economic imperative threatens not only the integrity of individual institutions but the very principle of art held in public trust.”

“Though anti-Semitism had been only one of several sources of Nazi voting strength, after 1933 Hitler placed anti-Semitic ideologues, the most important of whom were Joseph Goebbels, Otto Dietrich and Alfred Rosenberg, at the top of the key opinion-shaping institutions. In a dictatorship resting on the 'leadership principle', Hitler's anti-Semitic convictions defined policy.”

Source: The Jewish Enemy

“Under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control.”

Principles Democracy Capitalism Institutions Definitions Autocracy

Book:Language and Politics

Source: Language and Politics

“Adopting a central organizing principle means embarking on an all-out effort to use every policy and program, every law and institution, to halt the destruction of the environment.”

“How much more do they deserve our reverence and praise, whose lives are devoted to the formation of institutions, which, when they and their children are mingled in the common dust, may continue to cherish the principles and the practice of liberty in perpetual freshness and vigour.”

May Children Government Common Liberty Principles Practice Deserve Praise Institutions Dust Cherish Reverence Perpetual Devoted Formation Freshness

Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

Source: Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

“There is no one who has no leisure time at all. The office is not a permanent sanctuary, and Sundays are an institution. Thus, in principle, during those beautiful hours of free time everyone would have the opportunity to rouse himself into real boredom. But although one wants to do nothing, things are done to one: the world makes sure that one does not find oneself. And even if one perhaps isn't interested in it, the world itself is much too interested for one to find the peace and quiet necessary to be as thoroughly bored with the world as it ultimately deserves.”

“The gay movement is an evil institution that's goal is to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity in which there's no restrictions on sexual conduct except the principle of mutual choice.”

Choices Culture Evil Goal Principles Movement Gay Institutions Defeat Mutual Restriction Promiscuity

Author:Scott Lively

“The financial crisis has underscored how insufficient attention to fundamental corporate governance concepts can have devastating effects on an institution and its continued viability. It is clear that many banks did not fully implement these fundamental concepts. The obvious lesson is that banks need to improve their corporate governance practices and supervisors must ensure that sound corporate governance principles are thoroughly and consistently implemented.”

“If we care about universal principles such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law, we cannot leave them to the care of market forces; we must establish some other institutions to safeguard them.”

Ifs Care Law Force Principles Democracy Universal Institutions Investing Rule Of Law

Book:Open Society Reforming Global Capitalism Reconsidered

Source: Open Society Reforming Global Capitalism Reconsidered

“The principle of my political life ... is that all amelioration and improvements in political institutions can be obtained by persevering in a perfectly peaceable and legal course, and cannot be obtained by forcible means, or if they could be got by forcible means, such means create more evils than they cure, and leave the country worse than they found it.”

Ifs Mean Country Political Life Is Courses Evil Found Principles Institutions Improvement Cures Political Life Political Institutions

Author:Daniel O'Connell