Matthew Lesko Quotes

If there's anything a public servant hates to do it's something for the public.

I actually think that working in the federal government, or state or local, is one of the most significant things that a technical person can do.

If you are really interested in making government work, you should have the experience of working in government.

Government is not show business.

I am an old public functionary.

It has been my philosophy all my life that good government is good politics.

Governments are not like a business. They don’t look like a business, work like a business, think like a business, and they don’t have a bottom line.

For me, public service is an honor, and I have the ultimate respect for the rule of law.

State government is filled with dedicated, diligent professionals.

Incredibly, whenever I have proposed the theory that half of government workers could be cut, current and former federal employees I know have all agreed.

I believe we need to attract a new generation of the best and brightest to public service and I believe that government can be a source of inspiration, not degradation.

A public office is not a job, it is an opportunity to do something for the public.

Well, you could take several stories off the buildings of most U.S. government agencies and we'd all probably be better for it too.

My task as a citizen is to get the government to do more good and less inefficient and wasteful work.

By the time of the United States Tricentennial, there will be more government workers than there are workers.

Some government workers are dedicated and work hard, but most of them are just waiting to retire.

I work in public.

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

Public sector employees are the eyes and ears on the ground for the communities they serve.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

Our constituents did not send us to Washington to shut down the government. They sent us here to make it more accountable.

The British civil service ... is a beautifully designed and effective braking mechanism.

It’s hard to have a better job than the government, where you really do have an opportunity to have a broad reaching impact. Very few private sector jobs are going to offer you that.

Administration is the essence of government, and its quality is a prime condition of civic comfort.

I long for the time when the public service will get onto a higher plane than that of serving political parties, and come to serve the public interest instead.