Civic Duty Quotes

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
― John F. Kennedy

“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“The feeling of that moment defined earthly rapture for James Ed. Before his state of mind could enjoy a full minute of the ultimate feeling, the six-year-old memory intervened. “Goddamn that memory!” he thought.”
― Shafter Bailey, James Ed Hoskins and the One-Room Schoolhouse: The Unprosecuted Crime Against Children

“Let every man shovel out his own snow, and the whole city will be passable," said Gamache. Seeing Beauvoir's puzzled expression he added, "Emerson."

"Lake and Palmer?"

"Ralph and Waldo.”
― Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace

“Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?”
― George Washington

“The job facing American voters… in the days and years to come is to determine which hearts, minds and souls command those qualities best suited to unify a country rather than further divide it, to heal the wounds of a nation as opposed to aggravate its injuries, and to secure for the next generation a legacy of choices based on informed awareness rather than one of reactions based on unknowing fear.”
― Aberjhani, Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I.

“Discourse and critical thinking are essential tools when it comes to securing progress in a democratic society. But in the end, unity and engaged participation are what make it happen.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“It can be difficult to speak truth to power. Circumstances, however, have made doing so increasingly necessary.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
― Adlai E. Stevenson II

“Things are always changing ... It's true, some of the worst things keep repeating themselves, but things do change. And as citizens, we can do our part to keep things moving in the right direction.”
― Charmaine Wilkerson, Good Dirt

“It is relatively easy to point fingers at political figures whose leadership tactics resulted in diminished optimism and increased despair during a time when millions of souls were starving for the exact opposite. It is not so easy to ask how one may have contributed to the creation and maintenance of the culture of disregard and discord which helped spawn the tragedy in the first place.”
― Aberjhani, Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind : Adventures & Misadventures in Literary Savannah

“Silence isn’t neutral—it’s betrayal. When politicians, community leaders, and ordinary citizens ignore, allow, or cheer on lies, they aren’t just complicit. They’re worse than the liars themselves. Stand up. Speak out.”
― George Stamatis

“Human nerves are the life-circuit of society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“We cannot stand accountable without offending a few pricks.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Beyond the Nature of Truth (The Sonnet)

Do you realize how serious the situation is,
Are you aware of the lives ruined by cruelty?
Because if you stay aloof in your cloud castle,
All talk of humanity is but a tale of fantasy.

Can you tell the real from the unreal,
Can you tell facts from fantasy?
I am not talkin' in terms of neuroscience,
I am askin' you as a human, of human responsibility.

We can argue about the nature of truth all we want,
But that won't alleviate the suffering of society.
So the question is, do you know the worth of life,
How far will you go to preserve another's serenity!

Does human welfare overpower your insecurity?
Or is the self still separate from society?”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Get so drunk with incorruptibility,
you emerge a walking Wardencliffe.
Get so drunk with accountability,
no Rorschach can analyze your spirit.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“Somnolence leads to obsolescence, obsolescence leads to extinction.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

“Proof of life is in standing guard.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Humanitarian Dictator

“At its heart, civility is the disposition of those who understand that we live together to flourish together—that the wellbeing of our neighbor is bound to our own, and that we have a duty to one another and to the common good.”
― Diane Kalen-Sukra, Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community & What to Do About It

“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.”
― Juvenal, The Satires of Juvenal

“I have a rule of thumb when it comes to assessments: if you have to cook the books to make your argument, if you have to avoid inconvenient truths or manufacture others, it may be time to reconsider your position.”
― Richard Haass

“There is no good governance without good people.”
― Diane Kalen-Sukra, Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community & What to Do About It

“Political participation of the ordinary citizen in America is pretty much restricted to the intermittently recurring elections: Politics is not organized to be a daily concern and responsibility of the common citizen. The relative paucity of trade unions, cooperatives, and other civic interest organizations tends to accentuate this abstention on the part of the common citizens from sharing in the government of their communities as a normal routine of life.”
― Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy Vol. 1

“One act of conscience that prevents you from a wrongdoing when nobody is watching, is far more civilized than a thousand laws that keep the apes decent in public.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“The greatest activist is the conscientious commoner.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“The Great Activist (Sonnet)

The world doesn't need another climate summit,
the world needs a climate summon,
and not from some fair-weather activist
that jumps from one trend to another,
like privileged white women hop from
pseudoscience to pseudoscience -

the world needs a climate summon
from the commoners of the world,
everyday ordinary people with
a mundane job and a mundane life -

when these people sense the immediate
emergency that the planet faces,
then no amount of performative policy
will be required anymore,

because there is no greater environmental
stabilizer than commoners jolted to duty -
the greatest activist is the conscientious commoner.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“The world doesn't need another climate summit, the world needs a climate summon, and not from some fair-weather activist that jumps from one trend to another, like privileged white women hop from pseudoscience to pseudoscience - the world needs a climate summon from the commoners of the world, everyday ordinary people with a mundane job and a mundane life - when these people sense the immediate emergency that the planet faces, then no amount of performative policy will be required anymore, because there is no greater environmental stabilizer than commoners jolted to duty.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“There is no greater environmental stabilizer than commoners jolted to duty.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock