Grant Shapps Quotes

Why is it is claimed that if people won't or can't take care of their own needs, that people in government can do it for them?

In every decision we make and in every policy we develop, we are committed to protecting those who cannot protect themselves... the very young and the very old.

In a competitive world, not everybody can follow the pace; you will leave people out. We now accept that we must take care of these people. You cannot let them die in the streets; people will not accept it. And that is right, too.

The test of civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members.

You go to your public library, or you call your fire department or police department, what do you think you are calling? These are socialist institutions.

The sign of a civilised society is how we treat the most vulnerable and our social care system is not up to scratch.

It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

I believe that when people have an occupation that allows them to provide for their families, the social dimension of human nature will emerge instinctively and lead people to help and organize others less privileged.

People don't want charities to usurp the state as the core provider of social services.

I've always been engaged in social protection programmes.

We all ran barefooted on the dusty roads in our past, but now the Emperor wears shoes, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the barefooted child and the doting mother are afforded a holistic environment to realise their dreams and ambitions.

I believe in public services.

Even the best community organizations and faith-based initiatives and the extraordinary charity of Americans across the country can't carry the brunt of eliminating poverty.

Government just simply can't do everything for everyone.

Societies should be judged by how they treat the weakest among them.

I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming.

If it’s liberal to feed the hungry and house the homeless, you can call me a liberal. If it’s liberal to make sure a young mother can see a doctor when her baby’s sick, call me a liberal.

Tammany Hall had taught me to be kind to those in trouble, to look after the sick in the tenements, to see that the widows had food and fuel and that the men had jobs.

I did not allow the mighty to distress the common peasant or the poverty-stricken widow.

Public welfare … must be directed increasingly toward prevention and rehabilitation—on reducing not only the long range costs in budgetary terms but the long range costs in human terms as well.

Government should take care of those in America who can't care for themselves. That's a role of government.

With increasing poverty, welfare dependency and violence in the United States, religion and religious organizations have an important role to play combating societal problems.

If we don't want intrusive government, then we need to care for the least among us so that they are not exploited as a reason by the government for bigger government.

Protecting children at risk of exploitation will always be a priority, and at the other end, safeguarding an ageing population brings its own challenges.

We have an obligation at the local level to do everything we can with the resources we have. And we do those things. But we're never going to solve homelessness - not here in Portland, not here in any major city in America - if we keep assuming that it is purely a local issue.