Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero Quotes

Governments are not normally concerned with the welfare of the people they govern.

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom.

Businesses should be focused on business, and social responsibility should be government responsibility.

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom.

I am profoundly disturbed by any attempt to take government responsibility away from government … it is government’s responsibility to educate all of our children …. The fundamental responsibility for poverty of this country does not belong to the churches; it belongs to the government.

All government is intended for the benefit of the people.

We need government to do for the people what they cannot do for themselves.

The duty of the State toward the citizen is the duty of the servant to its master.... One of the duties of the State is that of caring for those of its citizens who find themselves the victims of such adverse circumstances as makes them unable to obtain even the necessities for mere existence without the aid of others.... To these unfortunate citizens aid must be extended by government--not as a matter of charity but as a matter of social duty.

What is a government supposed to do for its people? To improve the standard of living, to help them get jobs, get kids to schools, and have access to medicine and hospitals. Government may not directly provide these public goods and services, but government must be accountable for whether or not they are delivered to citizens.

The role of government is to steer us in the right direction, not do all the work for us.

The government doesn't have to solve everyone's problem here.

The value of government to the people it serves is in direct relationship to the interest citizens themselves display in the affairs of state.

I've always believed as a value that the government has a vital - not overwhelming, but vital - role to play in furthering human welfare and good. I think we have an important supportive role to play, hopefully intelligent and sensible.

No citizen is apolitical; as a citizen, by definition, has to take interest in public affairs.

Government health care changes the relationship between the citizen and the state, and, in fact, I think it's an assault on citizenship.

We, as citizens, are the true owners of government.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

A healthy and fully functioning society must allocate its resources among a variety of competing interests, all of which are more or less valid but none of which should take precedence over national security.

Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people.

As a society, we cannot afford to waste our most valuable resources—our citizens.

Government is a progressive instrument for the common good.

The role of government is to protect the public health.

The public interest is more than the sum total of the interest groups.

The real needs of the people ought never give way to the imaginary wants of the state.

It is the work of the state to think for the people and plan for the people.