John Rawls Quotes

Once it becomes impossible for members of Congress to make a career of legislative service, the temptation to bend a vote for whatever reason may yield to the better angels of their nature.

I think a public official ought to follow his conscience as to what is in the public interest, not what will protect his job.

We want men to rule the nation who care more for and love better the nation's welfare than gold and silver, fame or popularity.

We have the incredible privilege of serving in the highest offices in the state. We must prove ourselves worthy of our fellow citizens' faith. We must be trusted to always place the public's good above our own and to always choose fairness over favoritism.

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

To be interested in the public good we must be disinterested, that is, not interested in goods in which our personal selves are wrapped up.

My public life is before you; and I know you will believe me when I say, that when I sit down in solitude to the labours of my profession, the only questions I ask myself are, What is right? What is just? What is for the public good?

If they think its such a sacrifice to go into public service, then they should stay the heck out.

Join cooperatively with one another, put aside self-interest, and take on service to the public …

It is time that we labored for the happiness of the people. Legislators who are to bring light and order into the world must pursue their course with inexorable tread, fearless and unswerving as the sun.

The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or party.

I don't believe in political strategies. I believe only to do good for the people.

I grew up to believe in public service. It is in the core of who I am.

I happen to think most people go into government do it for the right reasons and they really do things as they see them on the merits of the issues.

I'm not trying to top anything. I'm trying to be useful, to play a positive role, to serve the public interest.

To serve the public interest is not the same as being a servant of public opinion.

No one has needed favours more than I, and generally, few have been less unwilling to accept them; but in this case, favour to me,would be injustice to the public, and therefore I must beg your pardon for declining it.

The General who in advancing does not seek personal fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding punishment, but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote the best interests of his sovereign, is the precious jewel of the state.

True patriots measure themselves not by personal wealth or power but by the degree to which they contribute to the community.

Rather take that moral sense and apply it to the particulars of a job that is going to test those ethical and moral precepts differently than if you're a professor, or a business person, or a dad. And if I were not comfortable with the judicious use of our military to protect the American people, than I shouldn't have run for president. And having said that, I do think that the wisdom of a [Martin Luther] King or a [Mahatma] Gandhi can inform my decisions.

I leave comparisons to history, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent.

What most of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and independence; which, requiring no superfluity at home, distracts not the mind from the common good.

The good ruler sublimates his needs as an individual to the service of the nation.

If you always vote for the lesser of two evils, you will always have evil, and you will always have less.