John Jay Chapman Quotes

The fact that a man is to vote forces him to think.

The first duty of an American citizen, then is that he shall work in politics.

Abstention is a dereliction of citizenship: always cast a vote, if only to cast stones at the most hated.

Much as I respect Russell Brand's point of view, I'm in the opposite camp to him about voting. I think it's enormously important to engage with the electoral process.

Citizenship is a tough occupation which obliges the citizen to make his own informed opinion and stand by it.

Registering people to vote is not partisan activity.

I feel a real responsibility to my community and so right now there has been this bizarre myth in our community how our vote doesn't count. I'm trying to get out there and re-educate on how the government works and break that myth and talk about the importance of being involved.

I'm one of those goobers who comes out of the polling place actually wearing the 'I VOTED' sticker on my jacket.

Pretty much all I say politically is I encourage people to register to vote.

To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.

Voting is a civic sacrament.

People vote for their dreams and fears.

Political action is the highest responsibility of a citizen.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of us all.

I know how illusory would be the belief that my vote determined anything; but nevertheless when I go to the polls I have a satisfaction in the sense that we are all engaged in a common venture.

I vote, but I don't feel that I'm achieving much when I do.

I like to bring my kids to the voting booth to show them how it works. I'll let them draw their own conclusions as to how worthwhile it is.

I would never enter politics, but I will go out and vote.

I think nuance is very important to have in the conversation, nuance that's been lacking for a long time. A lot of voting organizations only exist every four years, putting all this money into "your voice is important!" Wouldn't that be nice, if that's all it took? Voting is the first political action for most people. But if you don't follow up then voting is not actual participation but just a one-off.

Some politician some years ago said that bad officials are elected by good voters who do not vote.

Voting is fundamental in our democracy. It has yielded enormous returns.

I've always tried to vote my conscience.

But, you know, I'm sorry, I think democracy requires participation. I mean, I don't want to proselytize but I do feel some sort of duty to participate in the process in some way other than just blindly getting behind a political party.

Only votes talk, everything else walks.

When you become active in the system and communicate to your representatives, and they don't vote in accordance with your values, your responsibility is to support candidates who will.