Mario Cuomo Quotes

The great American tradition is one of pluralism, not exclusive secularism. The strength of our country is reflected in the contributions that we all make to the common good.

Remember this: Beliefs divide, values unite. When we go to the values that underlie so many religious beliefs, they unite us.

There will be many fine and wonderful men and women of all races and creeds-and of no religious creeds at all-who will lead decent and useful lives.

Religious freedom does not mean freedom from religion.

Democracy is a small hard core of common agreement, surrounded by a rich variety of individual differences.

While we may be of different faiths, we have a strong sense of faith, family, community. We hold the values of freedom and human rights very high and I think that those are all a part of a very strong quilt that binds us together.

It has been the way of Rotary to focus thought upon matters in which members are in agreement, rather than upon matters in which they are in disagreement.

America is a place where we all come together. It is a place of consensus.

More and more people care about religious tolerance as fewer and fewer care about religion.

For too long, we have focused on our differences - in our politics and backgrounds, in our race and beliefs - rather than cherishing the unity and pride that binds us together.

No religious consensus is possible in the United States, and to impose one would be both unconstitutional and unjust.

While people certainly come to church to receive clear moral guidance, they also come to engage in dialogue about difficult questions, and to find something that isn’t readily available in the larger society—a place where disagreement is handled gracefully and respectfully by people of shared religious values.

We in the United States are pluralistic respecting ultimate beliefs. Profound values exist apart from a devotion to a god.

Things that bind a community together are the things that nobody has to talk about because everyone agrees about them.

The reformists do not believe in inflicting their point of view on anyone, not even on the orthodox Bohras. They accept the right of the orthodox also to believe and practise what they want. Similarly, they do not want others to inflict their viewpoint on them or coerce them to accept their authority on pain of social boycott.

I don't think morality can be decided on the private level. I think you need public guidance and public support for a moral consensus. The average person has to know instinctively, without thinking too much about it, how he should raise his children.

Earlier pluralist societies destroyed themselves because no one took care of the common good. They abounded in communities but could not sustain community, let alone create it.

Canadian federalism is more than a form of government. It's also a system of values that allows different people in diverse communities to live and work together in harmony for the good of all.

We have a diverse population and have to maintain that and keep religion away from politics.

Americans know that we have more in common than we do differences.

While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.

While people might talk about the divisions in this country, what I've seen is that across this country, we share so much in common, we share so many values, we want to take care of one another - that's what it means to be Canadian.

Belief is easier when it occurs within a community.

In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects.

Freedom of religion has been replaced by freedom from religion.