Carlos Lopez-Cantera Quotes

You need the commitment of people that aren't worried about that next election, who are going to do the right thing and worry about the next generation. It's called political courage. And I can tell you, with me, you don't have to ask whether I have political courage.

Not everybody goes to government to serve themselves and not their country.

No man should have a political office because he wants a job.

Know the difference between principles based on right or wrong vs. principles based on personal gain, and consider the basis of your own principles.

This idea that you can't be an honest man and a Washington politician is a myth, a crock made up by sellouts and careerist hacks who don't stand for anything and are impatient with people who do. It's possible to do this job with honor and dignity.

I think I'm brave because I've made decisions based - I hope not entirely selfishly - on what I think is right for me to do next.

Bring back that better era of the republic in which, when men consecrated themselves to the public service, they utterly abnegated all selfish purposes.

Politics is a profession as certainly as base ball.... The only difference is that base ball is on the square; no base ball hero claims he is working in the interest of the crowd in the bleachers.

I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare - I have no use for him, either.

The best citizens were supposed to desire honest men in office, men who would not take bribes, men who would appoint high-minded men as their subordinates, men who would look after the public interest, see that public charities were well supported.

I am not the type of politician who will tell you I am going to act for my own benefit. The answer is no, I will continue to serve the public.

No man should be in politics unless he would honestly rather not be there.

Self-preservation shouldn't be the first instinct in politics. It should be doing the right thing for the country.

The Profile in Courage Award recognizes elected officials who choose to do what is right, not what is easy, so that we might learn from their example. Each time we give the award, we bear witness to the past for the sake of the future.

I just want people to know that whatever decisions are made on any issue, I'll make them according to what I believe is in the public interest and my own conscience.

In 'Profiles in Courage,' my grandfather, John F. Kennedy, praised leadership that put country above party, elevated principles over petty politics and promoted progress before personal interests.

Men who have greatness within them don't go into politics.

We want to bring back to Washington people who are more interested in public service than they are in private gain.

I have never and never will do anything for the sake of popularity; he that steers by any other compass than his own sense of duty may be popular, but cannot be an honest and ... useful public servant.

A conscientious man ought not to regard what may happen to him in this world.

We are political creatures but once we U. S. Attorneys get into office we must no longer be political.

What would the Senate do with me, an inexperienced legislator who lacks the faculty of self-deception, essential requisite for anyone wanting to guide others.

Most politicians make decisions based on their own best interest rather than the greater good.

We must take man as we find him, and if we expect him to serve the public we must interest his passions in doing so.

Unfortunately we are politicians when we should be statesmen.