Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes

There are a lot of smart people in politics and government, but character matters ... it is terribly important that the two be melded.

Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and politics to mere technique.

Men have the power of thinking that they may avoid sin.

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?

Ethics and power are separate.

Those who have the most power - whether famous TV anchors, rich Hollywood moguls, judges, Members of Congress, or the president of the United States - must decide how to exert that power: for corruption or for good.

Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation.

It is now, more than ever, necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good.

A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.

They are focused on whether they can do something. They never think whether they should do something.

There is no man more dangerous, in a position of power, than he who refuses to accept as a working truth the idea that all a man does should make for rightness and soundness, that even the fixing of a tariff rate must be moral.

I think the greater responsibility, in terms of morality, is where leadership begins.

All too often arrogance accompanies strength, and we must never assume that justice is on the side of the strong. The use of power must always be accompanied by moral choice.

Men of power have no time to read; yet the men who do not read are unfit for power.

May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.

Ethics are a key issue, and they're a key issue on the Democratic side, and all people have to be held to high standards.

Power doesn't corrupt people, people corrupt power.

Every leader has the responsibility to hone his or her integrity. Many times, there are integrity traps that have a tendency to catch well-meaning leaders off guard.

You must see the persons who are in charge - persons you can punish or vote for.

Kings may be judges of the earth, but wise men are the judges of kings.

It is impossible to design a constitution that is so perfect that no one has to be good.

Politics is about accountability, it is about leadership, it is about courage.

Elections alone will never be enough to ensure good governance.

People hold elected officials to a higher ethical standard than most others.