Charles Krauthammer Quotes

Upon the principles of reason, the good of many is preferable to the good of a few or of one; a lasting good is to be preferred before a temporary, the public before the private.

No man ever freely surrendered a portion of his own liberty for the sake of the public good; such a chimera appears only in fiction. If it were possible, we would each prefer that the pacts binding others did not bind us; every man sees himself as the centre of all the world's affairs.

It's not that conservatives don't care. We do. We just have different answers than liberals do. It's a difference of the mind, not of the heart.

Private interests must be made subservient to the general interests of the community

Everyone living under the social contract we call democracy has a duty to act responsibly, to obey the laws, and to abandon certain types of self-interested behaviors that conflict with the general good.

Before this learning experience, I had assumed that with regard to programs that sought to help people out of poverty, the political world was essentially divided into two camps: conservatives who opposed these for a variety of reasons, and liberals who supported them.

Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good.

I really don't think there's a lack of good will between members of the parties. I go back a long way with a lot of Republicans, so I don't think it's personal. But there does seem to be a much greater gap in both the philosophy and emphasis on partisan victories as opposed to policy development.

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

So there's always been this clash between what is the public good - that which belongs to all of us in common - and what can be exploited for a private interest.

What it missing, I think, is this notion of the common good.

Undermining life-affirming social solidarities and any viable notion of the public good, right-wing politicians trade in forms of idiocy and superstition that mesmerize the illiterate and render the thoughtful cynical and disengaged.

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.

Look around, and you see everywhere the exertions and acts of individuals restricted, regulated, or promoted, on the principle of the common welfare.

Everyone thinks chiefly of his own, hardly ever of the public interest.

Republican politics: Every man for himself. Democratic politics: Something for nothing.

The public good is being compromised in the conflicts between our rival political parties.

Private property is a creature of society, and is subject to the calls of that society, wherever its necessities shall require it…

Politics is the art of providing for the general welfare. It's the great human cooperative institution. It, in principle, is not competitive. It's an attempt of a community of people to get together in order to solve their problems …

There are certain public needs that outweigh private interests.

I just don't believe that being conservative means all you do is throw stones and poke people in the eye.

Liberals genuinely believe that this country is about helping one another out and doing it for the greater good.

Defining of the public interest is always very, very difficult.

We believe that the Anarchists are real enemies of Marxism.

I love being a conservative. We conservatives are proud of our philosophy. Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals.