Civil Service Quotes

“My dilemma is that of the civil servant. If a civil servant takes an initiative and things go right with it, he cannot, in the nature of his employment, look for much in the way of reward; whereas if his initiative goes wrong, he can expect all kinds of trouble, everything from reprimand to blocked promotion, and a permanent black mark against his name in the files. It is accepted, therefore, that the way to advance in the civil service, or in any field where civil service conditions prevail, is never take an initiative and never to support anyone else's. It is inevitable that this should be so.”
― Robert Aickman, The Unsettled Dust

“A healthy agency does not require relevance to the national agenda so much as the APPEARANCE of relevance to the national agenda," Humphrey explained. "It is perhaps the second-most important tool in ensuring continued funding."
"And the most important?"
"A friend on the Appropriations committee.”
― Jim Geraghty, The Weed Agency: A Comic Tale of Federal Bureaucracy Without Limits

“Every reformer is a public servant, but not every public servant is a reformer.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

“He initiated a campaign to drenare la palude (“drain the swamp”) by firing more than 35,000 civil servants.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning

“Take the civil service out of government and the country will collapse, take politics out of government and the country will flourish.”
― Abhijit Naskar, When Humans Unite: Making A World Without Borders

“It's the civil servants who run a country, not the politicians.”
― Abhijit Naskar, When Humans Unite: Making A World Without Borders

“It takes thousands of people to turn an illegal political order into a democratic injustice. And as it happens, a huge portion of those people are civil servants. So, if even a handful of civil servants stand strong, responsible and conscientious, then no politician has the power in his pea-brain to do injustice to the people.”
― Abhijit Naskar, When Humans Unite: Making A World Without Borders

“I give a call today to the civil servants around the world - yours is to serve, not the government, not the politicians, not even the constitution, but the people. You are the first servants of the society. On your shoulders, lies the responsibility of humanity's present and future. If the armed forces are our last line of defense in any corner of the world, then you are our first line of defense in every corner of the world. Injustice must ask your permission before entering the lives of the people. You, civil servants are the first vanguards of the society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, When Humans Unite: Making A World Without Borders

“Till we successfully build a meritocratic society, the integrity of a democracy remains predicated on the integrity of the civil servants. Civil servants are the first defenders of democracy, against crooked politicians as well as angry, mindless mobs.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Good Scientist: When Science and Service Combine

“Sonnet of Public Service

Every reformer is a public servant,
But not every public servant is a reformer,
For public service isn't taught as life itself,
But as just another job little more secure.
If only education focused on life and love,
Instead of constantly peddling competition,
Perhaps we'd have a world little less bitter,
And we'd have ascension, not abomination.
But there's no use in brooding over history,
What's needed is to realize love as our core.
Education and all be manifestations of love,
If not, it is just another snobbish endeavor.
May service be the goal, role and whole of life,
Instead of being and raising educated lowlife.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

“Bureaucratic apathy is worse than bureaucratic corruption.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Woman Over World: The Novel

“Ten apathetic government officials can do more damage to a country, than a hundred crooked ones.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Woman Over World: The Novel

“Sacred minds make sacred society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Her Insan Ailem: Everyone is Family, Everywhere is Home

“If I Were Head of State (The Sonnet)

If I were the head of state,
my first act in government will be,
to dissolve the government,
and redistribute all powers of society,
to experts in their respective fields.

Civil servants and experts run a nation anyway,
While brainless politicians take all the credit.
Time to give credit and power where they're due,
Putting an end to the circus of representatives.

Instead of trading one incompetent fool for another,
We gotta rotate the civil servants office to office.
In a civilized democracy, civilians are the law,
Never you forget that, never let anyone forget it!

If I were the head of state, that is the end of state.
Dictatorships empower leaders, democracy empowers citizens.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Run for service, not office.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Civil service is the main engine of democracy, we just gotta make it corruption-proof and efficient.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“In a country where the civil services exams are treated as sacred, the only affairs one is encouraged to pursue deeply are current affairs.”
― Anurag Minus Verma, The Great Indian Brain Rot : Love, Lies and Algorithms in Digital India

“Even though Egypt had material prosperity, the British held exclusive political control: British officials held all key administrative positions and filled the top ranks of the civil service. However skilled an Egyptian, there were barriers beyond which he could not advance.”
― Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam

“The meaning of office is service.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth