Civic Action Quotes

The American people... want change. They want big ideas, big reform.

For America to work, Americans have to participate. If they don’t pay attention, they’re going to get screwed.

But, you know, I'm sorry, I think democracy requires participation. I mean, I don't want to proselytize but I do feel some sort of duty to participate in the process in some way other than just blindly getting behind a political party.

Pastors can lead the way in motivating the faithful to wise stewardship of their citizenship responsibilities. Without a healthy culture and civil society, limited government and ordered liberty will be impossible.

Poetry can't give us the laws and institutions and representatives, the antidotes we need: only public activism by massive numbers of citizens can do that.

People are doing so many incredible, inspiring, interesting things all over this country, and I think that's where the hope is - seeing how innovative and creative people can be.

The health of our republic depends on shared principles like the First Amendment, but it is also built on the Teddy Roosevelt-like vigor of its citizens and local self-reliance.

At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?

If we don't like what the Republicans do, we need to get in there and change it.... By the turn of the century it'll be a 95 percent white Republican Party and a 99 percent black Democratic Party. That's not what we need.

We need democracy - but right now democracy needs us! It needs self-assured citizens who have confidence and drive, common sense and decency, and who show solidarity with others.

There's more we can do as a community to try to change what policing looks like in our cities.

I begin to feel like I was in the last generation of Americans who took a civics class.

If you really want to make a difference you don't do it via Tweet, via Facebook, via Instagram - you get down, you understand what the facts are and then you offer a path forward.

This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.

I was raised to believe that we all have a civic duty and a responsibility as Americans to improve our neighborhoods and our nation.

We are not merely historians but also and always citizens.

With the approaching winter the air quality in many Indian cities, especially in Delhi, becomes a public health hazard. Something so fundamental as breathing easy can no longer be taken for granted. It's a wake-up call worthy of a civic revolution.

I think we need to raise our voices, and we need to demonstrate to the people we represent, as well as the American people, that their leaders have a responsibility to take action.

Please, please, stop referring to yourselves as 'consumers.' OK? Consumers are different than citizens. Consumers do not have obligations, responsibilities and duties to their fellow human beings.

An activist is one who is actively involved in creating community, whether that is locally in their neighborhood or internationally. It is an admirable quality.

What did you do to change the world today?

I'm not leaving the fight just because I decided not to run. I'm going to expand my political action committee and volunteer for it. I'm going to do lots of other things where I will have a voice. So I'm not leaving the fight.

Writers throughout the ages have one weapon, which is literature, but they also have their responsibilities as a citizen when literature does not seem to suffice. I mean, they are not mutually exclusive. One continues to write anyway but if you are called out to demonstrate, if people are being killed in the streets, it's hardly the moment to go for your pen and paper, you know, help in one way or the other.

Together, we can create something new, something bold, and something to act as a check and balance to Washington's out-of-touch agenda.

To place and power all public spirit tends, In place and power all public spirit ends; Like hardy plants, that love the air and sky, When out, 'twill thrive—but taken in, 'twill die!