Michael Polanyi Quotes

We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.

The European model is in danger if we obliterate the principle of personal responsibility.

It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.

Wherever the citizen becomes indifferent to his fellows, so will the husband be to his wife, and the father of a family toward the members of his household.

Having been given that public trust, we have a responsibility to share with the public.

Society has always to demand a little more from human beings than it will get in practice.

We need to get back to a level of social responsibility that we haven't seen for a long time.

Mankind must be positively and constructively wary of mankind, of their fellow man, of their families, of the members of their faith community, of their fellow-citizens.

Thus, neither my government nor myself, personally, are without ideals and responsibilities.

That's the difference between governments and individuals. Governments don't care, individuals do.

I feel like personally, it's on everybody to hold each other accountable.

When we act ignorant as a community, we are not doing the right thing.

We've placed a lot of emphasis in this country on the idea of people's rights. That's how it should be, but it makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities.

States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.

Someone who will take responsibility for the real welfare of the American people, to be honest with them. I'd like to have that adult in the room.

When you see corruption, when you see injustice, you speak up. You don't just shut up and say it's none of my business.

To me, a public servant should have both the grounding and the compassion to carry the common sense and good will of his or her neighbors into the political arena.

I don't think any country is perfect. It's our responsibility to do the best we can do to change the things we don't like. I think that's part of social responsibility, and everybody is going to do that in their own way.

Democracy is based upon empathy and the recognition that some decisions are solely for the community's benefit without regard to one's own narrow self-interest.

We need to step up because our past generations did their jobs; we now need to do ours.

Public servants should always be accountable and responsible for what they are advocating, and I challenge the American people to demand this from their representatives.

Anarchy would be a world that nobody felt responsible for, that nobody felt any sort of love for. When there's real intelligence happening, when there's real love happening, there's a sense of responsibility: Hey, we've got to take care of this place and each other.

It is hard to speak the truth about valued national institutions. But when they are not fit for purpose, we must speak out.

It's not good enough to announce 'I know my rights' if you aren't prepared to accept that you have responsibilities to society and your fellow citizens as well. And if people don't live up to those responsibilities to our society, they will not be able to hide behind their rights.

As citizens, we have to co-create good governance, we cannot outsource it and hope to be passively happy consumers. Like everything worth its while, good governance must be earned.