Chris Grayling Quotes

We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.

I think this society suffers so much from too much freedom, too many rights that allow people to be irresponsible.

When each citizen submits himself to the authority of law he does not thereby decrease his independence or freedom, but rather increases it. By recognizing that he is a part of a larger body which is banded together for a common purpose, he becomes more than an individual, he rises to a new dignity of citizenship. Instead of finding himself restricted and confined by rendering obedience to public law, he finds himself protected and defended and in the exercise of increased and increasing rights.

Within each country’s borders, different view exist of the obligations of individual citizens to one another, of provinces and cities to their neighbors, of the large and the small entities to the polity—corporations, churches, and other institutions—to society as a whole.

When you come to Denmark, you have the chance to live in a free, peaceful country with access to free education, free medical aid and the opportunity to work. To benefit from that requires responsibility. If you don't assume that responsibility, it is a breach in trust.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

In the name of freedom, there has to be a correlation between rights and duties, by which every person is called to assume responsibility for his or her choices, made as a consequence of entering into relations with others.

The problem of how we finance the welfare state should not obscure a separate issue: if each person thinks he has an inalienable right to welfare, no matter what happens to the world, that's not equity, it's just creating a society where you can't ask anything of people.

I suppose that is my central obsession. What we owe to society, what we owe to ourselves.

But we must create in each person a sense of responsibility in order that each one of us can have the right to enjoy all his rights.

Man's liberty ends, and it ought to end, when that liberty becomes the curse of its neighbors.

In the nineties, everybody wants to talk about their rights and privileges. Twenty-five years ago, people talked about their obligations and responsibilities.

The European model is in danger if we obliterate the principle of personal responsibility.

The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.

The government serves the people - not vice-versa.

It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing from our Government or from each other. Let us all take more responsibility not only for ourselves and our families but our communities and our country.

The first duty of law is to keep sound the society it serves

Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility …

You cannot just exercise your rights and get away without performing your responsibilities. Understand that it should not be about 'me' but rather 'us.'

Everyone has to have a sense of duty. A duty to society, to their family. I mean, you name it.

The basic social contract is that citizens agree to follow the law, pay their taxes, and devote their love and loyalty to their country, and in exchange, the nation commits to preserve and protect and serve their interests, safeguard their freedom, and return to them in kind their first allegiance and loyalty.

It's gotten to a point where everybody is concerned about their rights and nobody is concerned about their duties.

We've placed a lot of emphasis in this country on the idea of people's rights. That's how it should be, but it makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities.

No government demands so much from the citizens as democracy and none gives back so much.