Robert Kennedy Quotes

We are bound by ideals that teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these ideals. Every citizen must uphold them.... I ask you to be citizens. Citizens, not spectators. Citizens, not subjects. Responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.

My theory is this: Rather than having commentaries from the cheap seats, get involved and see what you can do. What can you do around your own community, within your own family, to try to improve race relations in our country? I think this is a responsibility that we all have as citizens.

As young Americans, you have an important responsibility, which is to become good citizens.

I always say there's no ticket of admission for active citizenship. Anybody can get through that gate, and anybody can ask that basic question that gets the ball rolling.

Our culture is at a critical cusp - a time that requires that we define what it means to be a citizen in a democracy. Within our nation we need to foster a greater sense of collective responsibility.

The most important thing we stressed is that we want those kids to be productive citizens.

I realized that public affairs were also my affairs.

If the undocumented have to work hard to attain citizenship, those of us who already are citizens should have to work hard to sustain it. We should all have to serve more, vote more, build more, and do more for our country.

We started a movement... to build character, citizenship and confidence in young people.

Everybody is supposed to be a part of their own community.

I do feel, in a sense, the rules of engagement for citizenship has changed, and we must encourage other people to speak up and to take action.

Citizens are not born. They are raised.

The members of the Church, as members of society, have the same right and duty to promote the common good as do other citizens.

We can’ t renew our country unless more of us—I mean all of us—are willing to join churches.

Education is teaching of the overall citizenship, to learn to live together with fellow citizens. And, above all, to learn to obey the law.

I am determined to be a first class citizen.

The policy of the public authorities of never taking an initiative, and always waiting to be urged to do their duty, is fatal in a ward where there is no initiative among the citizens.

I like people in the cities, in the States and in the Nation to ask themselves now and then: 'What can I do for my city?' not 'How much can I get out of my city?' I like people to speak now and then in the same devotion to State and Nation.

Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility …

There is no one left to fix the nation, none but all of us.

If we want to have good workers and good citizens, we need to create common spaces in which individuals can talk about the moral and ethical dilemmas that they have faced and how they resolve them.

A community belongs to those who take ownership of it.

If governments want to encourage good citizenship, they should try making the desired behavior more fun.

Essentially, social education is moral education, and moral education is preparation for citizenship... When Jefferson and others advocated public education, it was to prepare for citizenship in a new, constitutional, democratic society.

The work of being a citizen is hard and annoying, but it can pay off.