Jonathan Sacks Quotes

Much can and must be done by governments, but they cannot of themselves change lives.

Wherever the citizen becomes indifferent to his fellows, so will the husband be to his wife, and the father of a family toward the members of his household.

As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved - it's the citizen who changes things.

As citizens of a free society, we have a duty to look critically at our world. But if we think we know what is wrong, we must act upon that knowledge.

I believe that all students, when asked to be accountable for their actions and to be socially aware citizens, will become agents for change!

Empowerment is not about doing the same thing the same way in the same environment. It's about building the man and the woman and doing so with a view to creating better citizens and, by extension, better patriots in this society of ours.

Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow.

If we do not prepare children to be good citizens; if we do not develop their capacities, if we do not enrich their minds with knowledge, imbue their hearts with love of truth and duty, and a reverence for all things sacred and holy, then our republic must go down to destruction as others have gone before it.

Change America—Change the World

Republican government presupposes decent and admirable qualities among its citizens - so we should be serious about strengthening character and inculcating virtue.

My theory is this: Rather than having commentaries from the cheap seats, get involved and see what you can do. What can you do around your own community, within your own family, to try to improve race relations in our country? I think this is a responsibility that we all have as citizens.

I don't think any country is perfect. It's our responsibility to do the best we can do to change the things we don't like. I think that's part of social responsibility, and everybody is going to do that in their own way.

Forget being an actor-director: we, as citizens, have the responsibility to make the country a better place. And that doesn't mean advertising other people's agendas; it means looking at what is wrong and making it right.

Be an active participant in your community and country. Every small gesture makes up the big gestures. Resist, rinse, repeat.

Will you be a spectator or a citizen? To make a difference in this world, you must be involved.

I have long been convinced that families are the primary agents of social change in any society.

It is in the power of every individual to do that which the community as a whole is powerless to effect.

Art and activism seem to go together naturally, the idea being that if you're an entertainer, you can have a voice, and if you have a voice, you can make a difference. But if I were not an actress, I would still try to extend myself beyond my little micro-universe of my job, family and personal joy.

I'm not any kind of social reformer.

I realized that public affairs were also my affairs.

That's what it's about, how society changes people but people can also change society. It only takes a few people to do things and help themselves instead of sitting around on their asses. She has a very global outlook on life and all sorts of things.

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.

The goal, I think, of American education, for decades, and across many, many scholars, was basically to teach people broad lessons in how to live life, how to engage life, how to essentially be effective citizens and effective people.

I have recommended in my writings the study of civic virtues, without which there is no redemption. I have written likewise (and repeat my words) that reforms, to be beneficial, must come from above, that those which come from below are irregularly gained and uncertain.

I can't change everything by myself but I can be one of the people who are trying to change the situation.