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Public Opinion Quotes

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Public Opinion Quotes

“The vested interests-if we explain the situation by their influence-can only get the public to act as they wish by manipulating public opinion, by playing either upon the public's indifference, confusions, prejudices, pugnacities or fears. And the only way in which the power of the interests can be undermined and their maneuvers defeated is by bringing home to the public the danger of its indifference, the absurdity of its prejudices, or the hollowness of its fears; by showing that it is indifferent to danger where real danger exists; frightened by dangers which are nonexistent.”

IfsWayRealHomeHateWishInterestSituationOpinionInfluenceDangerPrejudiceConfusionIndifferenceFrightenedIndifferentDefeatedAbsurdityPublic OpinionVested InterestsHollowness
Author:Norman Angell
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“When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognised. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.”

BelieveHas BeensWould BeLawEvilLevelsResultsOpinionEffectsCrimeCitizensArmyWineDrinkingAlcoholReplacedIgnoredPublic OpinionProhibitionLawlessnessSaloons
Author:John D. Rockefeller
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“I'll tell you what's the greatest power under heaven, and that is public opinion-the ruling belief in society about what is right and what is wrong, what is honourable and what is shameful. That's the steam that is to work the engines.”

BeliefHeavenOpinionEnginesRulingPublic OpinionShamefulSteam
Book:Political Leadership: Stories of Power and Politics from Literature and Life
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“Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits . . . it is founded on morals and religion, whose authority reigns in the heart, and on the influence all these produce on public opinion before that opinion governs rulers.”

HeartLawLibertyMoralOpinionVirtueInfluenceProduceDependsHabitAuthorityRulersReignPublic OpinionMorality And ReligionMoral Virtues
Book:The influences of democracy on liberty, property, and the happiness of society, considered
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“It is odd that neither the Church nor modern public opinion condemns petting, provided it stops short at a certain point. At what point sin begins is a matter as to which casuists differ. One eminently orthodox Catholic divine laid it down that a confessor may fondle a nun's breasts, provided he does it without evil intent. But I doubt whether modern authorities would agree with him on this point.”

MayDoeMatterCertainEvilChurchSinOpinionDoubtModernDivineAuthorityCatholicAgreeOddBreastsOrthodoxPublic OpinionNun
Book:Unpopular Essays
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“Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”

GivingShouldGovernmentForceEducationOpinionObjectsEssentialsImportanceInstitutionsStructurePrimariesProportionEnlightenedPublic OpinionFarewell AddressDiffusion
Book:The Life of General Washington: First President of the United States
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“This formidable censor of the public functionaries [the press], by arraigning them at the tribunal of public opinion, produces reform peaceably, which must otherwise be done by revolution. It is also the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man and improving him as a rational, moral, and social being.”

MenMindDoneSocialMoralOpinionProduceRevolutionInstrumentsPressesRationalCivil RightsReformImprovingPublic OpinionEnlighteningFormidableTribunalsSocial Being
Book:The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private
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“It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonialization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.”

FirstsStatesFactsCertainNumbersLeaderOpinionLandDutyForgottenIsraelTerrorismPublic OpinionIsraeliCleansingZionistZionismEthnic CleansingEvictionArab Israeli Conflict
Author:Ariel Sharon
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“The newspaper that obstructs the law on a trivial pretext, for money's sake, is a dangerous enemy to the public weal. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.”

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Book:Mark Twain: Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims and Other Speeches
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“For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.”

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Book:Carlyle Reader
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“The truth is, that, even with the most secure tenure of office, during good behavior, the danger is not, that the judges will be too firm in resisting public opinion, and in defence of private rights or public liberties; but, that they will be ready to yield themselves to the passions, and politics, and prejudices of the day.”

PassionLibertyOpinionRightsDangerReadyJudgingTruth IsOfficeBehaviorPrejudiceSecureFirmYieldPublic OpinionDefenceResistingJudiciaryTenureGood Behavior
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
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“Experience having long taught me the reasonableness of mutual sacrifices of opinion among those who are to act together for any common object, and the expediency of doing what good we can; when we cannot do all we would wish.”

LongTogetherWishCommonOpinionSacrificeObjectsTaughtMutualPublic OpinionExpediencyReasonableness
Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
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“When men exercise their reason coolly and freely, on a variety of distinct questions, they inevitably fall into different opinions, on some of them. When they are governed by a common passion, their opinions if they are so to be called, will be the same.”

IfsMenDifferentReasonFallPassionCommonOpinionExerciseVarietyPublic OpinionDifferent Opinions
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“There was a time when we were told . . . that a sense of common interest would preside over the conduct of the respective members...This language at the present day would appear as wild as that great part of what we now hear from the same quarter will be thought, when we shall have received further lessons from that best oracle of wisdom, experience.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“Hitherto my observations have only aimed at a vindication of the provision in question, on the ground of theoretic propriety . . . . But there remains to be mentioned a positive advantage . . . I allude to the circumstance of uniformity in the time of elections for the House of Representatives. It is more than possible, that this uniformity may be found by experience to be of great importance to the public welfare; both as a security against the perpetuation of the same spirit in the body; and as a cure for the diseases of faction.”

MayBodySpiritFoundHouseOpinionSecurityCircumstancesDiseaseAdvantageImportanceElectionRemainsCuresObservationWelfareRepresentativesPublic OpinionProvisionFactionsProprietyUniformityHouse Of RepresentativesVindicationPublic Welfare
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“What concerns all, should be considered by all; and individuals may injure a whole society, by not declaring their sentiments. It is therefore not only their right, but their duty, to declare them.”

ShouldMayWholeIndividualOpinionDutyConcernSentimentsPublic OpinionDeclaring
Book:The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esquire: Late President of the State of Delaware, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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“For nearly five years the present Ministers have harassed every trade, worried every profession, and assailed or menaced every class, institution, and species of property in the country. Occasionally they have varied this state of civil warfare by perpetrating some job which outraged public opinion, or by stumbling into mistakes which have been always discreditable, and sometimes ruinous. All this they call a policy, and seem quite proud of it; but the country has, I think, made up its mind to close this career of plundering and blundering.”

ThinkingYearsMindHas BeensMadeWarCountrySometimesStatesSeemsJobsMistakeOpinionClassCareersFivePolicyProudInstitutionsTradePropertySpeciesProfessionWorriedMinistersCivil WarFive YearsWarfarePublic OpinionStumblingOutraged
Author:Benjamin Disraeli
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“A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be reflected in arbitrary external relations. The suppression of public opinion, the abolition of public competition for power and its public exercise opens the way for the state power to arm itself in any way it sees fit.... A state that does not hesitate to lie to its own people will not hesitate to lie to other states.”

PeopleWayWellsDoeStatesLyingOpinionRightsDangerArmsCitizensFitExerciseRelationCompetitionDenyNeighborInternalsCold WarArbitraryPublic OpinionAbolitionSuppressionBasic Rights
Author:Vaclav Havel
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“If your lot makes you cry and be wretched, get rid of it and take another; strike out for yourself; don't listen to the shriek of your relations...don't be afraid of public opinion in the shape of the neighbours in the next house, when all the world is before you new and shining, and everything is possible, if you will only be energetic and independent and seize opportunity by the scruff of the neck.”

IfsWorldNextOpportunityHouseOpinionCryShapesRelationIndependentShiningStrikesNecksWretchedPublic OpinionNeighbourEnergeticMake You Cry
Author:Elizabeth von Arnim
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