James Comey Quotes

The people's government has come to be less and less the people's business.

Healthy skepticism is necessary to the continuation of our democracy. When it turns to paranoia, it becomes destructive. American history has alternated between the two .... A nation where cynicism toward government prevails cannot function effectively.

Most Americans aren't the sort of citizens the Founding Fathers expected; they are contented serfs. Far from being active critics of government, they assume that its might makes it right.

In a democracy, citizens pass judgment on their government, and if they are kept in the dark about what their government is doing, they cannot be in a position to make well-grounded decisions.

You should always be questioning your government, but do not become cynical.

In democratic republics such as ours, citizens rely on public criticism of ideas and people to determine national policy.

When we ignore the will of the people, people lose.

The fight for reform comes down to a simple goal: giving our citizens the confidence that government serves the people first and the people only.

Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.

We should distinguish carefully skepticism about Big Government from contempt for all government.

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.

You have to trust your government. Don't let every scar, every wart, every hiccup condemn the whole body.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

No one in government should ever think that the citizens they work for can't or won't scrutinize their actions.

The crisis of democracy in the West is not the result of falling in love with another system. In Europe and America people who are disillusioned with democracy do not dream about the Chinese model or any other form of authoritarian rule. They do not dream about government that controls Internet and puts in prison those daring to disagree.

We've got to trust the politicians with these decisions.

You have citizens who don't understand how government works and they're kind of soured on it. All they do is criticize. They have no idea that they can make things happen.

Our political leaders must be honest and forthcoming with data that will allow citizens to use facts and figures to judge for themselves what state Social Security is in.

The citizens of New Hampshire expect and deserve a government as clean as our mountain streams and as open as our blue skies. Today let us pledge together to make this government - the people's government - clean, open and honest.

Without the ability to talk about government power, there's no way for citizens to make sure this power isn't being misused.

Freedom under law is hard work. If rulers cannot be trusted with arbitrary power, it is up to citizens to raise their voices at injustice.

Remarkably, governments are beginning to embrace the idea that nothing enhances democracy more than giving voice and information to everybody in the country. Why not open their books if they have nothing to hide?

It's difficult for democracy to function properly under the most favorable circumstances, but it has no chance at all when millions of voters are divorced from objective reality and incapable of understanding what is going on in Washington.

Distrust of government isn't baseless cynicism. It's realism.

If governments did not mislead their citizens so often, there would be less need for secrecy, and if leaders knew they could not rely on keeping the public in the dark about what they are doing, they would have a powerful incentive to behave better.