Barney Frank Quotes

I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race ... maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's senate race.

I'm always put in the unfortunate position of asking people to donate money and people I know in bands to play benefit concerts and all this stuff.

I have been raising money for the past 14 years for diabetes research.

When a donor is asked to contribute to a group whose innocuous-sounding name makes it appear to be doing work in the public interest, that donor should have a clear picture of where his or her money is going.

If you have $1 billion, you can use the Clinton Foundation as a conduit, and as it goes by, Clinton gives it his prestige.

I created my foundation as a result of that and my website, and I try to shed some light on some very topical issues right now. The idea is to try to get people to become obviously more knowledgeable about the issue and try to get corporations and individuals to contribute to these nonprofit organizations.

Is there any point in public debate in a society where hardly anyone has been taught how to think, while millions have been taught what to think?

It's healthier to reject certain cautions than fall in line.

Communists must always go into the why's and wherefore's of anything, use their own heads and carefully think over whether or not it corresponds to reality and is really well founded; on no account should they follow blindly and encourage slavishness.

All the wisdom of the world consists of shouting with the majority.

May God prevent us from becoming "right-thinking men"-that is to say men who agree perfectly with their own police.

Following instructions is overrated.

Many things that come into the world are not looked into. The individual says 'My crowd doesn't run that way.' I say, don't run with crowds.

To achieve respectability, to be admitted to the debate, they must accept without question or inquiry the fundamental doctrine that the state is benevolent, governed by the loftiest intentions, adopting a defensive stance, not an actor in world affairs but only reacting to the crimes of others...If even the harshest of critics tacitly adopt these premises, then the ordinary person may ask, who am I to disagree?

Question authority; but, raise your hand first.

Listen to authority figures because of their position, but only believe them if they can explain why.

The man who can face vilification and disgrace, who can stand up against the popular current, even against his friends and his country when he know he is right, who can defy those in authority over him, who can take punishment and prison and remain steadfast-that is a man of courage. The fellow whom you taunt as a 'slacker' because he refuses to turn murderer-he needs courage. But do you need much courage just to obey orders, to do as you are told and to fall in line with thousands of others to the tune of general approval and the Star Spangled Banner?

There is nothing so wrong as accepting a thing merely because men who have done things say it should be so.

In the U.S., philanthropic support from entrepreneurs is tightly integrated into the fabric of society, whether it's health care, medical research, or education. Now, slowly, China will know this.

Man must not check his reason by tradition, but, contrariwise, must check tradition by reason.

As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our trouble. . . . No Catholic, for instance, takes seriously the text which says that a Bishop should be the husband of one wife.

Sincere thought, real free thought, ready, in the name of superhuman authority or of humble common sense, to question the basis of what is officially taught and generally accepted, is less and less likely to thrive. It is, we repeat, by far easier to enslave a literate people than an illiterate one, strange as this may seem at first sight. And the enslavement is more likely to be lasting.

Respect authority while questioning it.

A contrarian approach is just as foolish as a follow-the-crowd strategy. What's required is thinking rather than polling.

Even the charities I give to are related to things that touch my life, like the Special Olympics. I'm not fully rational; I'm swayed by my biases and my emotions.