Elizabeth Esty Quotes

It is the duty of government to make it difficult for people to do wrong, easy to do right.

Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: 'What are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved?'

Science can tell us what can be done in principle, but it is then a matter for public debate as to what should be done. And ultimately, it is a role for politicians to decide the answers.

Most public officials work hard to serve the public good and abide by Oregon's ethics laws.

I have always served the public to the best of my ability. Why? Because, like every other man, it is to my interest to do so.

The State becomes society or humanity on the ethical side, a production and trade system on the economic side.

Public service used to be the highest of callings, until people like Madame Voldemort vilified it.

By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.

Ethics are not necessarily to do with being law-abiding. I am very interested in the moral path, doing the right thing.

The first step into justice begins with the politicians. You have to demand from yourself what you demand from people.

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.

The only way to do the human rights thing is to do the right thing medically.

My public life is before you; and I know you will believe me when I say, that when I sit down in solitude to the labours of my profession, the only questions I ask myself are, What is right? What is just? What is for the public good?

In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.

The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.

Any institution which does not suppose the people good, and the magistrate corruptible is evil.

To govern is to increase and spread morality, education, and happiness.

When moral principles, rather than persons, are candidates for power, to vote is to perform a moral duty, and not to vote is to neglect a duty

Our duty is to stand up for those who do the right thing.

Public business … must always be done by somebody…. If wise men decline it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not.

You must legislate morality.

We are now facing a problem more of ethics than of physics.

Every era demands its own answers, and if one wants to do good, one must be prepared for them.

Since the state is a community of human beings it is as truly subject to the moral law as any private society.

The final end of government is not to exert restraint but to do good.