Aaron Sorkin Quotes

Ethics in government has always been important to me.

Whether it's 'Veep' or 'Homeland' or 'The West Wing' - which is a more idealised version of democracy - people are fascinated by politics.

I'd like to play nothing but good characters.

The basis of effective government is public confidence, and that confidence is endangered when ethical standards falter or appear to falter.

Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

I'd wish the government took honest people into consideration, it shows enough consideration for scoundrels.

Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.

Political leaders or governments owe their position partly to force and partly to popular election. They cannot be regarded as representative of best elements, morally or intellectually, in their respective nations.

The Aldrich Plan is the Wall Street Plan. It means another panic, if necessary, to intimidate the people. Aldrich, paid by the government to represent the people, proposes a plan for the trusts instead.

If you are focusing your anger at government, you are focusing your anger at all of us. Government is just a personification of this country.

I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our government, but civilization itself.

We need to put people in positions of authority in government, business, law, medicine, media, sports and entertainment who are filled with the laws of God so that we can bring those laws into effect.

I think the vice of our housekeeping is that it does not hold man sacred. The vice of government, the vice of education, the viceof religion, is one with that of the private life.

The pursuit of politics is religion, morality, and poetry all in one.

I've definitely enjoyed myself more on the projects where I've played a good person, rather than on the projects where I've played somebody who is morally compromised.

Civil government cannot let any group ride roughshod over others simply because their consciences tell them to do so.

[I watch] all that stuff - Game of Thrones and all the other series. How about House of Cards? As for Boardwalk Empire - that's another period of government overreach, but at least they use the amendment process! In real life, the executive branch, by violating the Constitution, is using statutes in place of constitutional amendments to diminish our liberty.

I get so ticked off at you intellectually lazy people who think that the government is God, that every dollar they get or spend is somehow sacred. There is more fraud and waste and misuse. If the federal government were held accountable to the law as corporations are held accountable, half the federal government would be in prison.

Our people still need support. Support us through writing your government officials. We are still on the verge of extinction, with continued injustices brought against us.

History is replete with proofs, from Cato the Elder to Kennedy the Younger, that if you scratch a statesman you find an actor, but it is becoming harder and harder, in our time, to tell government from show business.

When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening, foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us

In 1790, the nation which had fought a revolution against taxation without representation discovered that some of its citizens weren't much happier about taxation with representation.

It is now, more than ever, necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good. Thus will they be able to marshal the moral resources needed to face the demands of the present, and to pass on to coming generations a society of authentic justice, solidarity and peace.

In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents.

If there is one thing the past years have taught us, it is the importance of a keen and high sense of honor in those who handle our governmental affairs.