Wallace Shawn Quotes

I'm from a very politically and socially conscious family. My mother always made a point of making us look at what was going on around us and take stock of our part in it.

What do I owe to my times, to my country, to my neighbors, to my friends? Such are the questions which a virtuous man ought often to ask himself.

If an artist is driven primarily by social responsibility, I think the art probably suffers because, again, just as leadership has a rather defined end point or purpose, social responsibility would seem to have a very clear moral context.

I believe that we have a duty to look frankly at the social conditions around us and to work to do what we can to address the specific needs which we find.

As a human being, when I see things going on in my community, I feel compelled to do something, to say something.

I'm not one to go down that road to say I have some kind of social consciousness.

We don't live in vacuums; we do care about the world, and we do want to believe our country is doing the right thing on our behalf.

Actors have a social responsibility.

It was fear that was then making you a good citizen, which is never a lasting teacher of duty.

Society can't wait. It's sad there are so many entrepreneurs, business successes and venture capitalists who give no thought to society.

... education fails in so far as it does not stir in students a sharp awareness of their obligations to society and furnish at least a few guideposts pointing toward the implementation of these obligations.

Knowing more about the public effects his work will have, the engineer ought to consider himself an "officer of the court" and keep the general interest always in mind.

If this day means anything, it means that you are now in the contingent of the responsible. You must be kind, yes, but you must also look beyond your own house. We're depending on you for your efforts and your vision. We are depending on your eye and your imagination to identify what wrongs exist and persist, and on your hands, your backs, your efforts, to right them.

For artists and intellectuals today, what is most needed is to be clear about social responsibility, because that is what most people automatically give up. Just to protect yourself as an individual is very political. You don't have to march on Tiananmen, but you do have to be clear-minded, to find your own means of expression.

What frightens me about America today is that in the large majority there is no active sense of the value of the individual: few citizens feel that they are the Republic, responsible for what happens. And when the individual in a democracy ceases to feel his importance, then there is grave danger that he will give over his freedom, if not to a Fascist State, then to the advertising men or Publicity Agents or to the newspaper he happens to read.

Awareness is very, very important because we're living in a world which is literally shrinking by the day. We are global citizens. So, for us not to be aware of what's happening to our neighbor is almost sad. Once you're aware, then you can decide what cause you want to dedicate your time to.

The true source of rights is duty.

Freedom & Duty always go hand in hand and if the free do not accept the duty of social responsibility, they will not long remain free.

I do feel a responsibility to address things that are problematic, but I don't have to go out of my way to do that.

I think our duty as American citizens is to be involved and engaged in anything that affects us. As an artist, I have to use my platform, and as a dad, a brother, and a black man, I have to be as socially woke and present as possible.

I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.

The state does not demand justice of its members, but thinks that it succeeds very well with the least degree of it, hardly more than rogues practice; and so do the neighborhood and the family. What is commonly called Friendship even is only a little more honor among rogues.

If you feel a sense of social responsibility, first of all keep working on yourself. Being peaceful yourself is the first step if you want to live in a peaceful universe.

Now the tech community is popping up and saying, 'We do need to be involved in our surroundings.'

I don't really consider this a political issue, I consider it to be a moral issue.