Arlen Specter Quotes

You accumulate political capital to spend it on noble causes for Canada. If you're afraid to spend your capital, you shouldn't be there.

I have tremendous admiration for everyone who enters the political arena so long as their goal is to do what they believe is right for the people of New York.

It's healthy for government to be a kind of moral catalyst, using the bully pulpit of high office.

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

I have always been very open about my respect for public service.

If you're in government, the right thing to do is be focused on solving real problems and asking what's the best solution to a particular problem.

I think we need politicians; we need people who want to serve.

The responsibility for good government lies not just with governments themselves but also with every other part of the system they operate in, including media, non-governmental organisations and the public.

There is a battle to be waged over what kind of country we are going to leave our children and grandchildren and that battle is happening now in Washington, not two years from now.

Let's just do what is right for the American people. And those of us who are involved in politics and government know that our responsibility is to the American people, that we have a responsibility to find our common ground, to seek it and to find it.

Let's put aside the politics and trust the people. Let's embrace the unique opportunity we all have; take the heat and make the hard and difficult decisions, knowing that we're doing it to make things better for the people of Illinois.

I am a patriot. I would think there are no politicians who are not patriots. Since I am a politician, I often get criticized as I try to exercise what I believe to be right. However, if you mind such criticism, I think you can't protect people's lives.

All the evils of France have been produced less by the perversity of the wicked and the violence of fools than by the hesitation of the weak, the compromises of conscience, and the tardiness of patriotism. Let every deputy, every Frenchman show what he feels, what he thinks, and we are saved!

In the end, Ted Kennedy was a politician, plain and simple. Yet he embodied how politics and public service can be successfully intertwined. You can't be a good public servant without being a good politician. Kennedy was both.

I hope there have been times when I made you all proud, or made you all smile or at least piqued your interest in this wonderful institution we call government.

Public service used to be the highest of callings, until people like Madame Voldemort vilified it.

I mean those people who are interested in good government will certainly contribute in order to make certain there's some counter-balance to those whose interests in good government is less.

I love Arizona. I was raised right. Somebody has to go to Washington and knock the hell out of the place.

But on the big things, I'm not going to trim in order to win public opinion. Because I really don't want to serve in the Senate if I arrive there without permission to do the things I think need to be done.

Caring about policy is important - people in washington forget.

I have never been afraid to stand up to the leadership on issues where we disagree. If you chose to keep Cambridge Labour, then I can continue to press the Government for the things that matter to you, in a way that members of the opposition are unable to.

Politicians fascinate because they constitute such a paradox; they are an elite that accomplishes mediocrity for the public good.

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.

Presidents come from the people and the should return to the people.

Our object today should be not to weaken government in competition with other centers of power, but rather to strengthen it as the agency charged with responsibility for the common good. That government is best which governs best.