Tim Robbins Quotes

I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence - providing they have the facts, providing they have the information.

Democracy doesn't require a whole lot of work of its citizens, but it requires some: It requires taking a good look outside once in a while, and considering the bad news and what it might mean, and making the occasional tough choice, and soberly taking stock of what your real interests are.

It’s our responsibility to read the newspapers and then say it is our opinion.

About things on which the public thinks long it commonly attains to think right.

If the opportunity offers, the Cynic [philosopher] must speak up on the public platform …. You must be able to explain to individuals as well as to a crowd of people the battle they're embroiled in

The Internet has done a wonderful thing for us. But democracy doesn't work unless people are well informed, and I don't know that we are. People just don't have the time.

You have to have people who prick the consciences of the nation.

What we need more than anything else is an informed populace. I believe people want to be informed.

I think it is the responsibility of a citizen of any country to say what he thinks.

I'm not interested in showing a politician falling over; it's about the issue and making people think differently about that.

For sure, the American people have access to more information now than any other people who have ever lived on earth. And I think we do a pretty good job of sorting out what's important.

I'd ask myself, 'What do I think is really unjust?' That should be a starting point for how you engage with the world.

As Americans, it is up to all of us to be well informed and thoughtful, to help our country make the right decisions in this time or testing.

My duty is to raise the consciousness of the American people.

All politics is an extension of ethics ... We cannot leave out conscience at the caucus room door.

Healthy skepticism is necessary to the continuation of our democracy. When it turns to paranoia, it becomes destructive. American history has alternated between the two .... A nation where cynicism toward government prevails cannot function effectively.

Those who would treat politics and morality apart will never understand the one or the other.

If the American people are going to support a policy than they had better be made to understand the rationale.

Public policies in our democracy are eventually a reflection of public opinion," so public opinion must be reshaped if we are to avoid disaster.

I always felt like I was doing the right thing.

When ... the interests of the people are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of the persons they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection.

For the things we [scientists] are working on no amount of protesting or fiddling with politics will save our souls. The accident that we worked out this terrible thing [nuclear weapons] should not give us the responsibility of having a voice in how it is to be used. The responsibility must in the end be shifted to the people as a whole and that can only be done by making the facts known.

I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right.

It is neither racist nor elitist to say publicly what every rational person believes privately - that if you don't know anything about a subject, you ought not to raise your hand or cast a ballot on the matter.

I won't criticise anyone else's statements, and the public will make up their own minds. And if the public think that any side or any individual has strayed too far away from what's expected of public representatives, then they'll make that judgement.