Wen Jiabao Quotes

Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness.

Transparency in government, no less than transparency in choosing government, remains a vital national interest in a democracy.

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.

Government must be a transparent garment which tightly clings to the people's body.

I am committed to working towards a more transparent, accountable, and ethical federal government worthy of the public's trust.

And one of the things I've tried to do in my first months in office is to give more Georgians - reporters and members of the general public alike - a closer look at how their government works.

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.

Ethics in government has always been important to me.

My task as a citizen is to get the government to do more good and less inefficient and wasteful work.

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.

For years now I have been talking about personal responsibility and accountability, both in our private lives and in the halls of government. Those are important principles here in Idaho, and they will form the basis of this administration.

Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and trustees are created for the benefit of the public.

When we like our new rulers we call them public servants. When we are mad at them we call them bureaucrats; but it is the business of self-government to see that they remain servants of the public instead of becoming its masters.

The way things are supposed to work is that we're supposed to know virtually everything about what they [the government] do: that's why they're called public servants. They're supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that's why we're called private individuals.

If you believe in democracy, why shouldn't you know what the government is doing?

Open government is, within limits, an ideal that we all share. U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed it when he took office in January 2009.

It's my father's legacy. My father's view was that the public is the employer of these government employees and has the right to know what they're up to.

Good government is the outcome of private virtue.

I believe transparency in government is key to restoring our nation's faith in its elected leaders.

Good government only happens when the people working in it do their jobs, and do them well.

The first lesson in civics is that efficient government begins at home.

To restore the trust of the people, we must reform the way the government operates.

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

Today we must make a pact with each other to end this reckless conduct with the people's government.