Theodore Bikel Quotes

As a citizen, you need to know how to be a part of it, how to express yourself - and not just by voting.

The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.

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 realized that public affairs were also my affairs.

I love voting day. I love the sight of my fellow citizens lining up to make their voices heard.

People say, 'If you don't vote, then you don't have a right to say anything. But nine times outta 10, I pay more taxes than they do - so even if I don't vote, I still have the right to speak out.

To sit back and say, 'Oh, we're going to let the government do whatever they want, right or wrong,' is giving up.

What we try to say is that it doesn't matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat or conservative or independent. You are equally responsible for your place in the culture, and you must make a contribution, and you must accept responsibility for what goes down on your watch.

The most important political office is that of the private citizen.

You can't be a full participant in our democracy if you don't know our history.

I'm responsible. I even did a commercial for MTV saying how I was going to register to vote. And I still haven't.

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.

But we must create in each person a sense of responsibility in order that each one of us can have the right to enjoy all his rights.

I certainly think it's very important that writers as citizens - not necessarily as writers, but just as ordinary citizens - should talk about things that matter to them.

I feel it's a person's duty to participate in the governing of the country in which he lives.

No citizen is apolitical; as a citizen, by definition, has to take interest in public affairs.

I do feel, in a sense, the rules of engagement for citizenship has changed, and we must encourage other people to speak up and to take action.

We, as citizens, are the true owners of government.

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

I believe that engaging in the political process is part of being a good person.

The first duty of an American citizen, then is that he shall work in politics.

The most important office, ... that of private citizen.

We receive from America the right to vote as Americans, for America's weal, and if we cannot use our privilege as Americans we should surrender it.

Abstention is a dereliction of citizenship: always cast a vote, if only to cast stones at the most hated.

The very right to vote imposes on me the duty to instruct myself in public affairs however little influence my voice may have in them.