Auguste Comte Quotes

…mortals cannot cherish what is private without injury to the community…to the extent that we call anything our own it absorbs our affections and diverts them from the service of the common good.

We need property dedicated to the general benefit in addition to that intended for private use.

Private advantages are often impediments of publick Profit…publick profits should be in a single power to direct, whose Interest is only the benefit of the whole

Liberty was realized when the citizens were ... willing to sacrifice their private interests for the sake of the community

Private interests must be made subservient to the general interests of the community

Liberals genuinely believe that this country is about helping one another out and doing it for the greater good.

The acquisition however perfectly of skills is not an end in itself. They are things to be put to use as a contribution to a common and shared life.

Upon the principles of reason, the good of many is preferable to the good of a few or of one; a lasting good is to be preferred before a temporary, the public before the private.

So there's always been this clash between what is the public good - that which belongs to all of us in common - and what can be exploited for a private interest.

What it missing, I think, is this notion of the common good.

People don't remember each tree in a park but all of us benefit from the trees. And in a way, artists are like trees in a park.

As it is for the good of all and the general well-being of the nation, I hereby consent; you may say to the people that I will remain. I will remain.

Everyone thinks chiefly of his own, hardly ever of the public interest.

The only public good is that which assures the private good of the citizens.

It's hard to mobilize various interest groups ... when its for the benefit of everyone.

Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another’s, but under nature everything belongs to all

The leader is supposed to represent the community, the public good. He's supposed to be the focal point and the guide and the inspiration, and to represent a concern for the public good. The trouble is, the tragic problem is, very often, when you are a leader and pursue the public good, it may be at the expense of your private interests in a very drastic way

When people fought for a democratic life, they were insisting that the common man had the capacity to engage in deliberation about how the community ought to run its life, not that you could let him squeak for what he wanted. And that ideal was that you could educate the common man to develop a certain amount of wisdom and that he could marshal the objectivity to deliberate and decide about what the public would require without always thinking that the political action was an opportunity to further his private interests…

Politics is the art of providing for the general welfare. It's the great human cooperative institution. It, in principle, is not competitive. It's an attempt of a community of people to get together in order to solve their problems …

Men in their private capacities may be allowed to prefer their single profit, but should consult only the general good in public councils.

The prosperity of all is the interest of all.

Form such a national government that we think best adapted for the good of the whole.

The supreme inspiration is the common weal.

Whatever shall be to the advantage of all, may that prevail!

Anything which dominates the life of the community should be owned by the community.