Joseph A. Califano Jr. Quotes

With jurisdiction over the issue of abortion and the purity and safety of food, was the only place in America where both motherhood and apple pie were controversial.

The state is not a supernatural being; it is the organised host of politicians, leaders and officials backed by armed force

Men such as they are, very naturally seek money or power; and power because it is as good as money,--the “spoils,” so called, “of office.” And why not? For they aspire to the highest, and this, in their sleep-walking, they dream is highest. Wake them, and they shall quit the false good, and leap to the true, and leave governments to clerks and desks.

I have several times suggested that what I call the “Establishment” in this country is today more powerful than ever before. By “Establishment” I do not mean only the centers of official power – though they are certainly part of it – but rather the whole matrix of official and social relations within which power is exercised ... the “Establishment” can be seen at work in the activities of, not only the Prime Minister, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl Marshal, but of such lesser mortals as the Chairman of the Arts Council, the Director-General of the BBC, and even the editor of the Times Literary Supplement, not to mention dignitaries like Lady Violet Bonham Carter.

Those of you who end up in public service will come to appreciate the difficulty of wielding the extraordinary power of the government effectively and fairly. Much of this power is housed in the many departments and agencies that are charged with carrying out specific functions of government. Those who do not have daily interactions with a government agency may not realize just how much influence bureaucracies wield.

We need a different kind of leadership in the White House that understands how to get bureaucracies competent again.

My father was a teacher, and there were teachers all around, his friends, they were working for the Government and their behaviour was within strictly limited areas.

A teacher should have maximal authority, and minimal power.

I am the government.

Love is by far bigger than the government can ever be.

The essence of government is control, or the attempt to control.

We need a government that is what we are at our best. Smart, efficient, pragmatic and compassionate.

To rule is not so much a question of the heavy hand as the firm seat.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

Politicians love regulating. That's part of the whole power structure.

Given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.

Servant leadership is the foundation and the secret of Sam Walton's ability to achieve team synergy.

The government has to be good, and just, and gentle.

Politicians make pacts; people make peace.

The power which a multiple millionaire, who may be my neighbor and perhaps my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest "functionaire" possesses who wields the coercive power of the state, and on whose desecration it depends whether and how I am allowed to live or to work.

It is easier to waste time on bureaucratic reorganization than it is to accomplish anything concrete.

Headmasters have powers at their disposal which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested.

The British Government

I confess to a prejudice against officialism and a dread of bureaucracy.

A government of statesmen or of clerks? Of Humbug or of Humdrum?