Fulton J. Sheen Quotes

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

The right to private property is inconceivable without responsibilities to the common good.

My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.

Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty.

Scientific progress makes moral progress a necessity; for if man's power is increased, the checks that restrain him from abusing it must be strengthened.

I'm less concerned about whether being a good corporate citizen burnishes a company's reputation. That's just an added benefit. I believe it's a responsibility, and there is no negotiating on responsibilities.

One must always be aware, to notice even though the cost of noticing is to become responsible.

... to teach the necessity of respect for the rights of persons and property as fundamental to every form of government...to teach the duty of government, to encourage and protect individual and group initiative and enterprise, to foster the right to work, earn, save and acquire property, and to preserve the ownership and lawful use of property when acquired.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.

Property has its duties as well as its rights.

doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right

The right to private property is valid, but all private property is under a "social mortgage.

Private property is a creature of society, and is subject to the calls of that society, wherever its necessities shall require it…

… since the right of possessing goods privately has been conferred not by man's law, but by nature, public authority cannot abolish it, but can only control its exercise and bring it into conformity with the common weal

To fight evil one must also recognize one's own responsibility. The values for which we stand must be expressed in the way we think of, and how we deal with, our fellow humans.

Nobody owns the money he/she possesses. They hold it just as a trustee.

The tradition that I come from has a great influence on Karnataka. Not just politically - it's also my social and moral responsibility to draw citizens facing bad governance and lawlessness to a leadership that is capable of delivering good governance and development.

Property should be in a general sense common, but as a general rule private... In well-ordered states, although every man has his own property, some things he will place at the disposal of his friends, while of others he shares the use of them.

If I have the means, I have the responsibility to employ them.

I do feel a responsibility to address things that are problematic, but I don't have to go out of my way to do that.

This whole business of Trade gives me to pause and think, as it constitutes false relations between men; inasmuch as I am prone tocount myself relieved of any responsibility to behave well and nobly to that person who I pay with money, whereas if I had not that commodity, I should be put on my good behavior in all companies, and man would be a benefactor to man, as being himself his only certificate that he had a right to those aids and services which each asked of the other.

Private property...is the creature of society and is subject to the calls of that society even to the last farthing.

Man is certainly free, but he is responsible for this freedom before God as before men. This responsibility is inevitably moral. In order of this morality, to be free is to protect the freedom of others and their dignities.

The quiet conscience is the invention of the devil. No one of us may permit any preventable pain to be inflicted even though the responsibility for that pain is not ours. No one may shut his eyes and think that the pain which is therefore not visible, is non-existent.

The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.