Elihu Root Quotes

Liberalism! This is the slogan of every educated and sober-minded person in Russia. This is the banner which can unite about it people of all spheres, all estates, all inclinations. This is the word which can mold a powerful public opinion, if only we can shake off from ourselves self-destructive laziness and indifference to the common cause.

Public policies in our democracy are eventually a reflection of public opinion," so public opinion must be reshaped if we are to avoid disaster.

The great work which is to be done is to change public opinion.

I'm part of an important movement that needs to happen.

My individual power is limited. I want to use my high-profile way to wake people up to take action together to do good things. I can only awake them with my performance art and creativity.

It will not be enough to rely on experts. Ordinary citizens must become experts too. It will take public opinion on a wide scale to ensure that world leaders act.

Every reform was once a private opinion, and when it shall be a private opinion again it will solve the problem of the age.

What is the soul, the informing spirit of our institutions, of our entire system of government but public opinion. Let us direct the force, the vast moral force of this engine, to the aid of others.

In a democratic society like ours, relief must come through an aroused popular conscience that sears the conscience of the people's representatives.

No feats of heroism are needed to achieve the greatest and most important changes in the existence of humanity; neither the armament of millions of soldiers, nor the construction of new roads and machines, nor the arrangement of exhibitions, nor the organization of workmen's unions, nor revolutions, nor barricades, nor explosions, nor the perfection of aerial navigation; but a change in public opinion..

Governments never lead; they follow progress

And to all of your supporters here and around the country: I want you to know, I've heard you. Your cause is our cause. Our country needs your ideas, energy, and passion. That is the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America. We wrote it together - now let's go out and make it happen together.

If we're still talking about the same thing 40 or 50 years later, then that means we're not doing anything about it.

The tactics we were able to use in the 1960s, 1970s - let's have a campaign, mobilize everybody and, therefore, social pressure - stop littering, or stop spitting, or be courteous to one another: I am not sure that kind of approach will work anymore.

I know it's very comfortable to sit at home and stay with your family, kids and friends and not worry about anything. But with the platform we have we should be the people that scream at the social issues and put them out there so as a society we can move forward.

In the modern world the intelligence of public opinion is the one indispensable condition for social progress.

It is in the power of every individual to do that which the community as a whole is powerless to effect.

The power of the people and the power of reason are one.

The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education.

That's what it's about, how society changes people but people can also change society. It only takes a few people to do things and help themselves instead of sitting around on their asses. She has a very global outlook on life and all sorts of things.

They act as if they supposed that to be very sanguine about the general improvement of mankind is a virtue that relieves them from taking trouble about any improvement in particular.

Politicians are there to try to deal with stuff, but sometimes it's both fortunate and unfortunate that people like us have more... not involvement, but more power in the stuff that we say.

We accept the world in order to change it. If you do not accept, then what are you going to change?

To me, the real 'state of the union' is found in how Americans react to current events.

I think that everyone has the power to make a change in the world.