Michael J. Copps Quotes

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

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

Common carriers exercise a sort of public office, and have duties to perform in which the public is interested.... Their business is, therefore, affected with a public interest

Having been given that public trust, we have a responsibility to share with the public.

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.

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.

A public office is not a job, it is an opportunity to do something for the public.

My public life is before you; and I know you will believe me when I say, that when I sit down in solitude to the labours of my profession, the only questions I ask myself are, What is right? What is just? What is for the public good?

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

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

The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or party.

We have the incredible privilege of serving in the highest offices in the state. We must prove ourselves worthy of our fellow citizens' faith. We must be trusted to always place the public's good above our own and to always choose fairness over favoritism.

If there's anything a public servant hates to do it's something for the public.

Ethics in government has always been important to me.

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.

You ask men in office to be honest; I ask them to serve the public.

Public service used to be the highest of callings, until people like Madame Voldemort vilified it.

A government job is an occasion for public service, not special privilege. The undivided loyalty to the public interest required of the governorship makes it inappropriate to keep the profusion of gifts that arrive every day at this office.

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

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

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

I long for the time when the public service will get onto a higher plane than that of serving political parties, and come to serve the public interest instead.

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

We are here to serve our citizens and not our ambitions.