Benjamin Franklin Quotes

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

Those who do not serve the public interest should not hold a public license.

Federal officials should serve without pay.

A public official must feel that he is a servant of the people. This is true of all public officials but perhaps in a special sense true of the Secretary of State, for our party lines stop at the water’s edge.

A man who aspires to any high office should have three qualifications: first, he should be prepared to support the constitution of his country; second, he should have a special aptitude for the office he desires; and third, he should have virtue and justice as they are understood by his fellow citizens.

For the sake of advantage which is to be gained from the public revenues and from office, men want to be always in office.

Those who are selected for a limited time to manage public affairs are still of the people, and may do much by their example to encourage, consistently with the dignity of their official functions, that plain way of life which among their fellow-citizens aids integrity and promotes thrift and prosperity.

Public officers are the trustees of the people.

The trust that goes with public service is a heavy burden on those who would lead us.

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.

To what higher station, to what greater glory can any mortal aspire, than to be, during the whole course of his life, the support of good, the control of bad government, and the guardian of public liberty?

In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than another. Offices were not established to give support to particular men at the public expense

The President of the United States should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves his country best.

We call ourselves public servants but I'll tell you this: we as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good.

There are higher things than mere professional success as a lawyer, and one of them is usefulness in a situation like that of New York, the great National problem of America.

I would regard it as a great misfortune to run for Mayor and still more to be elected.

It’s hard to have a better job than the government, where you really do have an opportunity to have a broad reaching impact. Very few private sector jobs are going to offer you that.

Public business … must always be done by somebody…. If wise men decline it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not.

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

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.

Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness.

He has slipped the surly bonds of public service.

If you accept the privilege of public service, you had better understand the responsibilities of public service.

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

Join cooperatively with one another, put aside self-interest, and take on service to the public …