Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes

Public policies in our democracy are eventually a reflection of public opinion," so public opinion must be reshaped if we are to avoid disaster.

We've got to figure out a way to cause communities to also want them, the political, organized bodies.

Most politicians will not stick their necks out unless they sense grass-roots support ... neither you nor I should expect someone else to take our responsibility.

I really feel that political will is born out of popular will.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

The popular will cannot be taken for granted, it must be created.

There is no one left to fix the nation, none but all of us.

You cannot do anything without rousing the masses to action.

… we should remember that the real power behind international as well as national progress towards better conditions is public opinion

I want Americans to realize that we are the owners of this country, and that one person can make a difference.

Poetry can't give us the laws and institutions and representatives, the antidotes we need: only public activism by massive numbers of citizens can do that.

As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved - it's the citizen who changes things.

'Unlikely Brothers' talks about the importance of citizen action and shows why and how we can make a difference.

As voters and taxpayers, we must demand that our local governments properly prioritize libraries. As citizens, we must invest in our library down the street so that the generations served by that library grow up to be adults who contribute not just to their local communities but to the world.

We firmly believe the environmental issues cannot be addressed without extensive public participation, but people need to be informed before they can get involved.

Party action should follow, not precede the creation of a dominant popular sentiment.

Without an educated populace, democracy cannot sustain itself.

As citizens of a free society, we have a duty to look critically at our world. But if we think we know what is wrong, we must act upon that knowledge.

I am the CEO and co-founder of Purpose - a social movement incubator and agency. We work on ways to help millions of people combine their power as citizens, consumers and cultural agents.

We must care. We must all care. And while I am working, while the governments is working, so must the people also work.

I do feel, in a sense, the rules of engagement for citizenship has changed, and we must encourage other people to speak up and to take action.

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.

There is this absurd assumption that the revitalisation of the public sphere is always a good thing. I think people tend to confuse 'civic' and 'civil,' and they believe that everything that is done by citizens is necessarily a good thing because you build a network, an association.

I liked the give-and-take of a policy discussion in the community, with citizens. I didn't know that even took place, frankly, but I never dreamed it would be an enjoyable thing to do.

A constitutional democracy is in serious trouble if its citizenry does not have a certain degree of education and civic virtue.