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Public Good Quotes

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Public Good Quotes

“Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superiour to all private passions.”

PeopleMindRealGovernmentPassionNationsInterestLibertyVirtueRepublicanGloryFoundationRepublicHonourPublic GoodPublic InterestRepublican Government
Book:Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence Among John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren ... 1743-1814
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“Higher education isn't just a personal investment. It's a public good that pays off in a more competitive workforce and better-informed and engaged citizens. Every year, we spend nearly $100 billion on corporate welfare, and more than $500 billion on defense spending. Surely ensuring the next generation can compete in the global economy is at least as important as subsidies for big business and military adventures around the globe. In fact, I think we can and must go further - not just making public higher education tuition-free, but reinventing education in America as we know it.”

ThinkingKnowsYearsImportantFactsBigsAmericaNextPayEducationEconomyGenerationsMilitaryCollegeAdventureHigherCitizensInvestmentSpendingDefenseBillionsCorporateWelfareEngagedGlobesNext GenerationBig BusinessHigher EducationGlobal EconomyWorkforceSubsidiesPublic GoodTuitionReinventingEducation In AmericaCollege TuitionDefense Spending
Author:Robert Reich
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“Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.”

GovernmentForceJusticePartyLibertyRightsHeardCitizensConflictDecidedMajoritySuperiorsVirtuousMinorsComplaintsRivalsUnstableConsideratePublic GoodDisregardedPersonal LibertyOverbearingConsiderate And Caring
Book:The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution
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“Out of politics comes more uproar than progress. It is indeed surprising how little, comparatively, this noisy department of human affairs contributes to the world's prosperity. Political commotions upon the grandest scale, political events of astounding suddenness, political characters of the greatest ability, abound, but still, permanent results are rare, and we look in vain for a measure of public good corresponding in extent to the hideous rout which ushers it in. Progress but turns upon its pillow, and goes to sleep again.”

WorldHumansLooksLittlesStillsCharacterPoliticalTurnsSleepAbilityResultsProgressEventsAffairProsperityScalesVainPermanentDepartmentSurprisingPillowHideousNoisyCorrespondingPublic Good
Book:Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
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“Ultimately, the current argument is "not having net neutrality will hurt innovation," and you can make that argument, but I would rather make the public good argument, which is not just about innovation or nurturing new companies that will add to the nation's GDP, it's actually about creating a democratic public sphere.”

NationsHurtCompanyCreatingArgumentInnovationAddDemocraticCurrentsSpheresNurturingNeutralityGdpPublic GoodNet NeutralityNew Company
Author:Astra Taylor
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“While I believe our Constitution allows for State and local governments to execute the power of eminent domain for those purposes that specifically serve the public good, condemning property solely to implement economic development plans is not serving the public good.”

BelieveStatesGovernmentPurposeI BelievePlansEconomicDevelopmentConstitutionPropertyLocalsServingDomainEconomic DevelopmentCondemningPublic GoodLocal GovernmentEminent Domain
Author:Solomon Ortiz
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“Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good.”

PeopleStatesTogetherRepresentativesProvidenceAlmightyDeliberateAlmighty GodPublic Good
Book:Messages and Papers of the Presidents: James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, and Franklin Pierce
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“Legally speaking, the term 'public rights' is as vague and indefinite as are the terms 'public health,' 'public good,' 'public welfare,' and the like. It has no legal meaning, except when used to describe the separate, private, individual rights of a greater or less number of individuals.”

UsedIndividualTermNumbersGreaterRightsWelfareVaguePublic HealthIndividual RightsPublic GoodPublic Welfare
Book:The collected works of Lysander Spooner
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“I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country.”

CountryViewsHonor4th Of JulyPublic Good
Book:Correspondence and miscellaneous papers relating to the American revolution. June, 1775, to July, 1776 (v. 3); July, 1776, to July, 1777 (v. 4); July, 1777, to July, 1778 (v. 5); July, 1778, to March, 1780 (v. 6); March, 1780, to April, 1781 (v. 7); April, 1781, to December, 1783 (v. 8)
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“The acceptance of corporatism causes us to deny and undermine the legitimacy of the individual as citizen in a democracy. The result of such a denial is a growing imbalance which leads to our adoration of self-interest and our denial of the public good.”

SelfIndividualCausesInterestResultsDemocracyGrowingAcceptanceCitizensDenyDenialCitizenshipSelf InterestAdorationLegitimacyImbalancePublic GoodCorporatism
Book:The Unconscious Civilization
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“Ashamed of the many frailties they feel within, all men endeavor to hide themselves, their ugly nakedness, from each other, and wrapping up the true motives of their hearts in the specious cloak of sociableness, and their concern for the public good, they are in hopes of concealing their filthy appetites and the deformity of their desires.”

MenFeelsHeartDesireConcernShameUglyMotiveAshamedEndeavorAppetiteCloaksFilthyFrailtyPublic GoodWrappingConcealingDeformityWrapping Up
Author:Bernard de Mandeville
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“...if the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.”

IfsMenMadeGovernmentLawPurposeLibertyVirtueRightsDutyCitizensOfficeSelfishLocalsVotingNeglectFoundingRevenueUnworthyIncompetentRight To VotePublic GoodFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersDisregardedSquanderingNot VotingSelfish InterestCorrupt SocietyVoting Founding FathersEmbezzlement
Book:Instructive and Entertaining Lessons for Youth: With Rules for Reading with Propriety, Illustrated by Examples: Designed for Use in Schools and Families
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“The trade of advertising is now so near to perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvement. But as every art ought to be exercized in due subordination to the public good, I cannot but propose it as a moral question to these masters of the public ear, whether they do not sometimes play too wantonly with our passions.”

ArtSometimesPlayCulturePassionEasyMoralMastersOughtPerfectionEarsTradeDuesImprovementAdvertisingProposePublic GoodSubordination
Book:The works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: with an essay on his life and genius
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“It is a misfortune, inseparable from human affairs, that public measures are rarely investigated with that spirit of moderation which is essential to a just estimate of their real tendency to advance or obstruct the public good; and that this spirit is more apt to be diminished than prompted, by those occasions which require an unusual exercise of it.”

HumansRealSpiritHuman NatureExerciseEssentialsAffairTendenciesOccasionsMisfortunesUnusualModerationInseparablePublic Good
Book:The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus
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“The best defence [for a democracy, for the public good] is aggressiveness, the aggressiveness of the involved citizen. We need to reassert that slow, time-consuming, inefficient, boring process that requires our involvement; it is called 'being a citizen.' The public good is not something that you can see. It is not static. It is a process. It is the process by which democratic civilizations build themselves.”

NeedsProcessDemocracyCitizensInvolvedCivilizationDemocraticBoringInvolvementDefenceConsumingStaticPublic GoodTime ConsumingAggressiveness
Author:John Ralston Saul
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“Alliances are crucial to success in the political sphere. However, if we are to approach other organizations to propose alliances for the public good, we must be prepared to assert a far more important role for the library. We must clearly define what we do and establish and assert the relationship of libraries to basic democratic freedoms, to the fundamental humanistic principles that are central to our very way of life. . . .”

IfsWayImportantPoliticalPrinciplesRolesDemocracyApproachOrganizationFundamentalsDemocraticPreparedLibraryCrucialSpheresBe PreparedProposeAlliancesPublic GoodHumanistic
Author:Arthur Curley
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“Our civilization is locked in the grip of an ideology - corporatism. An ideology that denies and undermines the legitimacy of individuals as the citizen in a democracy. The particular imbalance of this ideology leads to a worship of self-interest and a denial of the public good. The practical effects on the individual are passivity and conformism in the areas that matter, and non-conformism in the areas that don't”

SelfMatterIndividualInterestEconomyDemocracyEffectsParticularCitizensCivilizationWorshipAreasDenyPracticalsIdeologyDenialLockedSelf InterestLegitimacyPassivityImbalancePublic GoodCorporatism
Book:The Unconscious Civilization
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“An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good.”

PeopleHeartRightsDangerFaultsMereExpensesPopularityPretenseStaleBaitArtificePublic Good
Book:The Federalist Papers: The Making of the US Constitution
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“It is a just observation that the people commonly intend the Public Good. This often applies to their very errors. But their good sense would despise the adulator who should pretend they always reason right about the means of promoting it.”

PeopleShouldMeanReasonErrorsObservationDespisePromotingGood SensePublic Good
Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
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