126 Political Engagement Quotes

Following is our list of political engagement quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about civic engagement.

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Famous Political Engagement Quotes

Political action is the highest responsibility of a citizen. — John F. Kennedy

Democracy is not a spectator sport. It requires active participation from all citizens. — Alexei Navalny

Politics is pervasive. Everything is political and the choice to be "apolitical" is usually just an endorsement of the status quo and the unexamined life. — Rebecca Solnit

Appeal must be to an informed, civically militant electorate. - Felix Frankfurter

Appeal must be to an informed, civically militant electorate. — Felix Frankfurter

What really matters from the point of view of social capital and civic engagement is not merely nominal membership, but active and involved membership. — Robert D. Putnam

There are three critical ingredients to democratic renewal and progressive change in America: good public policy, grassroots organizing and electoral politics. — Paul Wellstone

Politics begins when you stop just making political commentary and start actually influencing the situation. — Alexei Navalny

Today's political climate does not allow the luxury of apathy. — Trent Reznor

An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy. — Thomas Jefferson

It is not enough to profess faith in the democratic process; we must do something about it. — Ella T. Grasso

Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Democracy is interactive... Its a constant job of information, education, explanation, listening, and interactive communication. — Dick Gephardt

This is supposed to be a participatory democracy and if we're not in there participating then the people that will manipulate and exploit the system will step in there. — George Takei

Mr. Speaker, democracy works best when the American electorate is engaged and informed. — Melissa Bean

We need a very progressive and strong agenda to bring people into the political process because I worry very much about the future of the American democracy where so many people are giving up. — Bernie Sanders

Short Political Engagement Quotes

  • Voting is a civic sacrament. — Theodore Hesburgh
  • Most activism is brought about by us ordinary people. — Patricia Hill Collins
  • I believe that voting is the first act of building a community as well as building a country. — John Ensign
  • When our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act. — Barack Obama
  • Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet. — Alice Walker
  • The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active. — Octavia Spencer
  • The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate. — Thomas Jefferson

Political Engagement Image Quotes

Political engagement quote When words are both true and kind they can change the world.
When words are both true and kind they can change the world.

Engagement Promise Quotes

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy — Martin Luther King, Jr.

If all who are engaged in the profession of education were willing to state the facts instead of making greater promises than they can possibly fulfill, they would not be in such bad repute with the lay- public. — Isocrates

The world does not need a better definition of issues, or better planning or project management. It needs the issues and the plans to have more of an impact, which is the promise of engagement. — Peter Block

Political engagement quote Be gentle with yourself, you're doing the best you can.
Be gentle with yourself, you're doing the best you can.

You rose into my life like a promised sunrise, brightening my days with the light in your eyes. I've never been so strong. Now I'm where I belong. — Maya Angelou

While waiting for promised blessings, one should not mark time, for to fail to move forward is to some degree a retrogression. Be anxiously engaged in good causes, including your own development. — Howard W. Hunter

Few things tend more to alienate friendship than a want of punctuality in our engagements. I have known the breach of a promise to dine or sup to break up more than one intimacy. — William Hazlitt

Political engagement quote The activity you're most avoiding contains your biggest opportunity.
The activity you're most avoiding contains your biggest opportunity.

There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation, than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises. — James Madison

But I had promised my husband never to accept another engagement. It was not a very happy time for me. — Dinah Sheridan

First there's the promise ring, then the engagement ring, then the wedding ring... soon after... comes Suffer...ring! — Jay Leno

I actually do not think that's how what's happening to our government is going to be stopped. I think people who are willing to be civically engaged and believe in the promises and the progress of the last fifty years that will save this country. — Stephen Colbert

Civic Engagement Quotes

Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes. — Thomas Ehrlich

In our democratic society, the library stands for hope, for learning, for progress, for literacy, for self-improvement and for civic engagement. The library is a symbol of opportunity, citizenship, equality, freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and hence, is a symbol for democracy itself. — Vartan Gregorian

I believe that women should have equal rights to education, to work and to civic and political engagement. — Rashid al-Ghannushi

Political engagement quote Positive thinking must be followed by positive doing.
Positive thinking must be followed by positive doing.

I think we're going to start to see a new model of civic advocacy where people get together once in a while to protest, but it's more about an ongoing, sustained engagement in issues, networks and communities about which people care. — Alex Steffen

I think the Tea Party monicker has kind of outlived its use. I think this is just an America movement, I mean, and you and others are really, you know, responsible for igniting this new civic engagement that's very positive. — Laura Ingraham

When spiritualism dawned, suddenly women who wanted to engage in the civic and religious and political culture were becoming transmediums. — Mitch Horowitz

Political engagement quote Be the person your dog thinks you are.
Be the person your dog thinks you are.

In any totalitarian society, dissent is viewed as a threat, civic literacy is denounced, and those public spheres that produce engage citizens are dismantled or impoverished through the substitution of training for education. — Henry Giroux

The way to get people civically engaged, not just during the election but throughout the year, is to tap into Facebook and let them do it with their friends. — Joe Greene

The practice of architecture not only requires participation in the profession but it also requires civic engagement. — Samuel

Political Involvement Quotes

The point is change can come about, but it only comes about when millions of people are actively involved in political struggle, the billionaires may have the money, but we have the people. — Bernie Sanders

Now is the time to alter our government. Now is the time to stop the movement toward oligarchy. Now is the time to create a government which represents all Americans and not just the 1%... No more excuses. We must all become involved in the political process. — Bernie Sanders

The whole country wants civility. Why don't we have it? It doesn't cost anything. No federal funding, no legislation is involved. One answer is the unwillingness to restrain oneself. Everybody wants other people to be polite to them, but they want the freedom of not having to be polite to others. — Judith Martin

Political engagement quote There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.

Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all. — John W. Gardner

The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men. — Edmund Burke

State intervention in economic production arises only when private initiative is lacking or insufficient, or when the political interests of the State are involved. This intervention may take the form of control, assistance or direct management. — Benito Mussolini

Political engagement quote Treat everyone with politeness and kindness, not because they are nice, but because you are.
Treat everyone with politeness and kindness, not because they are nice, but because you are.

Macroeconomic policy can never be devoid of politics: it involves fundamental trade-offs and affects different groups differently. — Joseph Stiglitz

Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster. — James Harvey Robinson

There is no difference between religion and politics. Both involve lies and fanatical beliefs that generaly defy logic... Just like rock climbing. — David Schuller

Most Americans have never seen the ignorance, degradation, hunger, sickness, and futility in which many other Americans live...They won't become involved in economic or political change until something brings the seriousness of the situation home to them. — Shirley Chisholm

Political Participation Quotes

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. — Plato

Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim - when he defends himself - as a criminal. — Frederic Bastiat

Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, health care, political participation and advancement of one's own culture and social organisation. — Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Political engagement quote The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

People don't want to believe they have to speak like Obama or Clinton to participate meaningfully in politics, because most of us don't speak like Obama or Clinton. — James David Vance

Look at what the Omar of Qatar is doing, for example - the King of Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain. There are reform movements taking place, efforts to broaden the political participation of the populations of the region. — Frank Carlucci

When we get a chance to take part in elections, I am ready to fight for leading positions, including in the presidential vote. — Alexei Navalny

Political engagement quote The stronger you become, the gentler you will be.
The stronger you become, the gentler you will be.

Increased interest and participation by labor in the affairs of government should make for economic and political stability in the future. Labor has a constitutional and statutory right to participate. — John L. Lewis

Democracy means far more than the right to vote every five years. It means the right to participate in every aspect of national and community life. The people must believe that they can take part. — Michael Manley

Maybe democrats will eventually turn on Obamacare when they realize you might need a photo I.D. to participate in the program. — Dennis Miller

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? — Barack Obama

Political Activism Quotes

It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong. - Voltaire

It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong. — Voltaire

So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men. — Voltaire

One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Political engagement quote Being polite is so rare these days, thats its often confused with flirting.
Being polite is so rare these days, thats its often confused with flirting.

My early years as a political activist were dominated by the poll tax. — Nicola Sturgeon

Taxation of earnings from labor is on a par with forced labor. Seizing the results of someone's labor is equivalent to seizing hours from him and directing him to carry on various activities. — Robert Nozick

Activists need to educate themselves about the power of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, invented in 2009, and use crypto to leverage the success of their independent media gains to tip the balance of power away from the troika in ways that could never happen by backing a political candidate. — Max Keiser

Political engagement quote  Relationships are like muscle tissue, the more they are engaged, the stronger and more valuable the
Relationships are like muscle tissue, the more they are engaged, the stronger and more valuable they become.

Social etiquette dictates that when in mixed company, one should avoid discussing politics and religion. As someone who is quite active on various social portals, I can attest to the visceral emotions that are triggered when these topics are broached! — Gad Saad

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. — Barack Obama

A man of active and resilient mind outwears his friendships just as certainly as he outwears his love affairs, his politics and his epistemology. — H. L. Mencken

One of the chief symptoms of every revolution is the sharp and sudden increase in the number of ordinary people who take an active, independent and forceful interest in politics. — Vladimir Lenin

Political Action Quotes

Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions. Liberty and responsibility are inseparable. — Friedrich August von Hayek

Military action without politics is like a tree without a root. — Ho Chi Minh

Ideas in a void have never appealed to me; action must follow thought or political life is meaningless. — Oswald Mosley

Hollywood is in control of politics and has imported their action-filled movie scripts into the real world. — Kim Dotcom

The Union of the Russian People helped invent a new style of right-wing politics – novel not just for Russia but for most of the world – a politics in a new key oriented toward the masses, public spaces, and direct action, a fascism avant la lettre. — Stephen Kotkin

Books ARE a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind. — Toni Morrison

The measure of the wealth of a nation is indicated by the measure of its protection of its industry; the measure of the poverty of a nation is marked by the degree in which it neglects and abandons the care of its own industry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers. — Henry Clay

Middle-class societies don't emerge automatically as an economy matures, they have to be CREATED through political action. — Paul Krugman

The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy. — Carl Schmitt

Every clique is a refuge for incompetence. It fosters corruption and disloyalty, it begets cowardice, and consequently is a burden upon and a drawback to the progress of the country. Its instincts and actions are those of the pack. — Soong May-ling

People Writing About Political Engagement

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny
quotes on war, peace and democracy

85 52
Read quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson
quotes on government, constitution and education

1788 19141
Read quotes by John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy
quotes on democracy, leadership and change

771 13677
Read quotes by Rebecca Solnit

Rebecca Solnit
quotes on walking, hope

186 639
Read quotes by Felix Frankfurter

Felix Frankfurter
quotes on education, leadership and life

83 543
Read quotes by Robert D. Putnam

Robert D. Putnam
quotes on slavery, freedom and education

14 300

More Political Engagement Quotes

The denarius was the silver coin that traded at the time of the Roman Republic, containing 3.9 grams of silver, while gold became the most valuable money in the civilized areas of the world at the time and gold coins were becoming more widespread. Julius Caesar, the last dictator of the Roman Republic, created the aureus coin, which contained around 8 grams of gold and was widely accepted across Europe and the Mediterranean, increasing the scope of trade and specialization in the Old World. Economic stability reigned for seventy-five years, even through the political upheaval of his assassination, which saw the Republic transformed into an Empire under his chosen successor, Augustus. This continued until the reign of the infamous emperor Nero, who was the first to engage in the Roman habit of coin clipping, wherein the Emperor would collect the coins of the population and mint them into newer coins with less gold or silver content. — Saifedean Ammous

Here is the prime condition of success: Concentrate your energy, thought and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun on one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it. — Andrew Carnegie

Our ability to effectively engage China and the Arab world rests on shared economic and political interests and mutual understanding. — Rick Larsen

Concentrate your energy, thought and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged... 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket' is all wrong. I tell you 'put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.' — Andrew Carnegie

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber — Plato

Any clear-thinking person should be able to engage in nuanced thinking when it comes to complex political positions. — Gad Saad

Love and politics are the two great figures of social engagement. Politics is enthusiasm with a collective; with love, two people. So love is the minimal form of communism. — Alain Badiou

The term propaganda rings melodramatic and exaggerated, but a press that—whether from fear, careerism, or conviction—uncritically recites false government claims and reports them as fact, or treats elected officials with a reverence reserved for royalty, cannot be accurately described as engaged in any other function. — Glenn Greenwald

I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm and the political temperatures are lowered enough for constructive and productive engagement. — Mwai Kibaki

When it comes to Chinese food I have always operated under the policy that the less known about the preparation the better. A wise diner who is invited to visit the kitchen replies by saying, as politely as possible, that he has a pressing engagement elsewhere. — Calvin Trillin

A better way to mutual respect is to engage directly with the moral convictions citizens bring to public life, rather than to require that people leave their deepest moral convictions outside politics before they enter. — Michael Sandel

I think it's important that members of the United States Senate spend time not just on Capitol Hill but making contact with ordinary people and engaging them in the political process. — Bernie Sanders

My ardent desire is, and my aim has been, to comply strictly with all our engagements, foreign and domestic, but to keep the United States free from political connections with every other country; to see that they may be independent of all and under the influence of none. — George Washington

The reason that I think it is a waste of time to engage in moral value judgements about people's violence, is because it doesn't advance by one iota our understanding of either the causes or the prevention of the violent behaviour. — Sayings

We are not engaged in domestic politics, in church building or in social uplift work, but we are engaged in nation building. — Marcus Garvey

Im happy to be a part of the conversation, if more young people are talking about fracking instead of twerking were heading in the right direction. The people that govern us dont want an active population who are politically engaged, they want passive consumers distracted by the spectacle of which I accept I am a part. — Russell Brand

The heaviest penalty for deciding to engage in politics is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself. — Plato

Gandhi saw how people have to re-think their own individuality before engaging in political activity. Otherwise they're just playing the game that the adversary has set out. — Pankaj Mishra

I think that you can disagree with people and debate over their positions with issues without engaging in the politics of personal destruction. — Hillary Clinton

All of the American's foreign wars have been fought with foes either too weak to resist them or too heavily engaged elsewhere to make more than a half-hearted attempt. The combats with Mexico and Spain were not wars; they were simply lynchings. — H. L. Mencken

Whoever undertakes to create soon finds himself engaged in creating himself. Self-transformation and the transformation of others have constituted the radical interest of our century, whether in painting, psychiatry, or political action. — Harold Rosenberg

We live in a global community and we can't really remain isolated. I believe that when we hold a very narrow view about our attitudes of politics or culture or religion, then we cut out the opportunity to really engage with other points of view. — Robert Kiyosaki

An Athenian citizen does not neglect his state because he takes care of his own household; even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics. We do not regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs as harmless. We do not say that such a man 'minds his own business'. Rather we say he has no business here at all. — Pericles

...180 million kids are engaged in the worst forms of child labour. Put it all together and it is not only morally unacceptable, but politically dangerous. — Juan Somavia

In terms of cooking with friends, I realized early on that all great meals seem to start and end in the kitchen, and the more you can get people engaged and hands-on, the better the memories will be. So when people come into your kitchen while you're cooking and prepping and politely ask, "Do you need any help?" the key is to say yes. — Rick Tramonto

Every year the State will be the dog that chases its own tail... engaging in a futile attempt to close a perpetual budget gap. — Richard Codey

We need to be politically engaged, but peculiar in how we engage. Jesus and the early Christians had a marvelous political imagination. They turned all the presumptions and ideas of power and blessing upside down. — Shane Claiborne

Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some may belittle politics, but we know - who are engaged in it - that it is where people stand tall. And, although I know it has its many harsh contentions, it is still the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster. And if it is, on occasions, the place of low skulduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes. — Tony Blair

If I had engaged in politics, O men of Athens, I should have perished long ago, and done no good either to you or to myself. — Socrates

I am a political animal, because for God's sakes I think "We The People" is a job. I think experienced self government demands on all levels - intellectual, moral, historical, and spiritual level. We are supposed to be engaged and give directions to our elected employees. — Ted Nugent

I think (the internet) is contributing to Chinese political engagement..access to the outside world is preventing more censorship. — Bill Gates

In all the poems I've written I've not really engaged in politics, and when I've found myself moving in that direction I've always stopped myself. — Simon Armitage

But generally speaking, I felt to engage in the political process was to sully oneself to such a degree that whatever came out wasn't worth the trouble put in. — John Perry Barlow

Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22-out-of-30 top al-Qaida leaders who've been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever is left out there, ask them about that. — Barack Obama

Even men who were engaged in organizing debt-serf cultivation and debt-serf industrialism in the American cotton districts, in the old rubber plantations, and in the factories of India, China, and South Italy, appeared as generous supporters of and subscribers to the sacred cause of individual liberty. — H. G. Wells

We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe. — Gary Bauer

There`s a reason people pause their lives to engage in political activism and pressure their local political leaders. Because as a whole, even if you can`t identify any one instance, as a whole pressure works and sometimes it starts with something as simple as pushing the button on the intercom. — Rachel Maddow

My dad was a city councilman and a county commissioner, so I grew up involved and engaged in the political process. — Bill Huizenga

All writers who can claim to be called 'living' must be political in a sense. They must have what the Quakers call a concern to understand what is happening in the world, and must engage themselves, in their writing, to promote no comfortable lies, of the sort which people will pay well to be told rather than the truth. — Storm Jameson

It would be easy for this conflict to slip off the political agenda given how long it has been going on but for the sake of the people of Nepal for whom it is a daily tragic reality, the world must remain engaged and keep up the pressure on the government and the Maoists. — Irene Khan

I really look at my life before kids and after kids and before I was more - not narcissistic - but I was definitely more selfish. I didn't have the same concerns as I do now. I've always been political, but you've gotta be engaged. You can't be apathetic anymore because what's at stake is bigger than yourself, it's your kids. — Raine Maida

[The Maldives] they've become deeply politically engaged - just for instance, the president taught his whole cabinet to scuba dive so they could hold an underwater cabinet meeting along their dying coral reef and pass a 350 resolution to send to the U.N. — Bill McKibben

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