Robert M. Gates Quotes

Every good citizen adds to the strength of a nation.

I'm not a believer in bringing back the draft. But I am a huge proponent of national service.

How could I remain a spectator while Singapore faces such complex challenges? How could I not step forward when I know I have more to contribute to the country we all worked to build?

By requiring all 30 million Americans age 18 to 25 to perform two years of national service, in the military or civilian life, we will be asking for a shared sacrifice from all American citizens.

What I can do for my country, I am willing to do.

I don't want to sound like Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, but I do think there should be some sort of national service for young men.

I authored the Universal National Service Act because I believe that everyone in America should contribute to the greater good of America.

I have never had a problem with national service. I am not sure the draft is the way to go about it, but I am positive that you live in a society and you take from this society, which every citizen here does. You owe something back to this country, and that should be paid back in some form of national service.

National service is America at its best.

America needs a big idea that plays to its strength. It should look to national service.

The nation... doesn't simply need what we have. It needs what we are.

I have a responsibility to devote my energy to my country and my people.

I've always had this core belief in public service. Even before I became a citizen, I volunteered in the Army.

Commonwealth has a right to the service of its citizens.

We must let our young men know that they owe some responsibility to this country.

In the great fulfillment, we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it, and more anxious about what it can do for the nation.

I think there are few things more patriotic than taking the time to make your country a better place.

To work for the good of our country is not a shallow thing.

I believe in national service, where you can join AmeriCorps or the military.

... any citizen should be willing to give all that he has to give his country in work or sacrifice in times of crisis.

Right now, America doesn't ask us to do anything besides pay taxes. We don't even have to vote. But as psychologists will tell you, when you have to sacrifice for something, you value it more. What about national service for young people? Everybody between 18 and 24 could spend a year or two working for this country in some capacity. It'd be an amazing thing. And it would mix this country racially, culturally, economically.

Citizen service is the very American idea that we meet our challenges not as isolated individuals but as members of a true community, with all of us working together. Our mission is nothing less than to spark a renewed sense of obligation, a new sense of duty, a new season of service.

I was raised to believe that we all have a civic duty and a responsibility as Americans to improve our neighborhoods and our nation.

I'm extremely proud of my family's record of public service to Massachusetts and the nation.

We should all spend some time of our life doing service to our country. To me, I would give up a couple of years.