Whether elected or appointed, public officials serve those who put and keep them in office. We cannot depend upon them to fight our battles. — Charles Hamilton Houston
Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters. — Grover Cleveland
Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote. — George Jean Nathan
Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it. — George Washington
Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people. — Henry Clay
No responsibility of government is more fundamental than the responsibility of maintaining the highest standard of ethical behavior for those who conduct the public business. — John F. Kennedy
Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else. — Glenn Greenwald
Government ... can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill. — Helen Prejean
Some politician some years ago said that bad officials are elected by good voters who do not vote. — Dwight D. Eisenhower
As Members of Congress, we should not be using public office for private gain. — Sheila Jackson Lee
A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office. — Hubert Humphrey
The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party. — John C. Calhoun
The executive branch of this government never has, nor will suffer, while I preside, any improper conduct of its officers to escape with impunity. — George Washington
A public office is not a job, it is an opportunity to do something for the public. — Franklin Knight Lane
Short Public Officials Quotes
Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one. — Herbert Hoover
A sign of development for a country is in the lack of prestige for government officials. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Anyone who campaigns for public office becomes disqualified for holding any office at all. — Thomas More
Elected officials shouldn’t get to choose who gets to choose elected officials. — Lewis Black
It is the essence of responsibility to put the public good ahead of personal gain — Robert Kennedy
The only people I know getting in high places by running their mouth are politicians. — Bo Jackson
People who complain in private want an answer. People who complain in public want an audience.
Public Official Quotes
The chief internal enemies of any state are not spies nor saboteurs nor the paid agents of foreign governments. They are, on the contrary, those myriads of public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people. — Dalton Trumbo
When elected officials abandon our environment and ruin our natural resources, public health is endangered. I know the importance of providing a clean environment for our children; I have attended more than one funeral for a child who has died from an asthma attack. — Gwen Moore
I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials. — George Mason
Be the same person privately, publicly and personally.
I have made no secret, either privately or publicly, of any sense of outrage over officially enforced military and war service. I regard it as a duty of conscience to fight against such barbarous enslavement of the individual with every means available. — Albert Einstein
Significant officials at publicly traded companies are casually and cavalierly engaged in insider trading. Because insider trading has as one of its elements communication, it doesn't take rocket science to realize it's nice to have the communication on tape. — Preet Bharara
Corruption is uniquely reprehensible in a democracy because it violates the system's first principle, which we all learned back in the sunshiny days of elementary school: that the government exist to serve the public, not particular companies or individuals or even elected officials. — Thomas Frank
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
In America, we have anti-nepotism laws in the federal government and in lots of state governments, because the practice of hiring relatives undermines public confidence that the government official is actually finding best person for the job. — Kathleen Clark
I've been asked about UFOs and I've said publicly I thought they were somebody else, some other civilization. — Gene Cernan
Public officials are permitted to finance or subsidize their own activities through taxes. That is, they are permitted to engage in and live off, what in private dealings between private law subjects is prohibited and considered 'theft' and 'stolen loot.' — Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Bishop Frederick Henry of Calgary is facing at least two official objections to his public statements along with expensive hearings before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for expressing his biblical views on same sex marriage. — Stockwell Day
Public Defender Quotes
When it came to the Vietnam War, Mr. McNamara was an early advocate of escalation but came to realize the flaws in the American approach earlier than many of his colleagues. Yet in public, he continued to defend the war. — Samantha Power
I represented many of these kids as they become young adults in the criminal justice system when I was a public defender. One way of reaching out is by the mind of experimentation. — Matt Gonzalez
The essential mark of the agitator is the high value he places on the emotional response of the public. Whether he attacks or defends social institutions is a secondary matter. — Harold Lasswell
No diet will remove all the fat from your body, becayse the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.
As long as there are human rights to be defended; as long as there are great interests to be guarded; as long as the welfare of nations is a matter for discussion, so long will public speaking have its place. — William Jennings Bryan
Although I never publicly defended promiscuity, I never publicly attacked it. I attempted to avoid the subject, in part because I felt, and often still feel, unable to live up to the ideals I really hold. — Andrew Sullivan
They've (Israel) lost the battle for public opinion. They claim it's because American Jews know too little.. I claim it's because they know too much about the conflict, and young liberal Jews have difficulty defending the use of cluster bombs in Lebanon or supporting the Israeli settlements. — Norman Finkelstein
Let us not be a society where honest in public equals weird.
Anti-Semitic publications have existed in Germany for centuries. A book I had, written by Dr. Martin Luther, was, for instance, confiscated. Dr. Martin Luther would very probably sit in my place in the defendants' dock today, if this book had been taken into consideration by the Prosecution. — Julius Streicher
Being constantly in the public eye gives me a special responsibility, particularly that of using the impact of photographs to transmit a message, to sensitize the word to an important cause, to defend certain values. — Princess Diana
The paramount duty of maintaining public order and defending the interests of our own people may require the adoption of measures of restriction, but they should not tolerate the oppression of individuals of a special race. — Grover Cleveland
These three brothers were not afforded the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law. They were not given a fair and public trial. Paramilitaries, under the command of senior Ministry of Interior officials, denied them these rights and shot them in cold blood. — Garry Robbins
Government Officials Quotes
Flushed with victory, the new interim Ukrainian government had immediately made some foolish statements, not least of which was the intention to abolish Russian as the official second language in various regions. — Tim Marshall
All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out. — I. F. Stone
The future success of the Marine Corps depends on two factors: first, an efficient performance of all duties to which its officers and men may be assigned; second, promptly bringing this efficiency to the attention of the proper officials of the government, and the American people. — John A. Lejeune
Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent every year to control the public mind.
Hyperinflation can take virtually your entire life's savings, without the government having to bother raising the official tax rate at all. — Thomas Sowell
The Europeans and Americans residing in the town of Zanzibar are either Government officials, independent merchants, or agents for a few great mercantile houses in Europe and America. — Henry Morton Stanley
Every time I travel, government TSA officials seem to recognize that I'm a Muslim and 'randomly' pull me aside for 'special treatment'. My sincere hope and prayer is that, on the Day of Judgment, my Lord's angels also recognize me as a Muslim and pull me aside for special treatment — Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi
A public opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
But there will be no justice, there will be no government of the people, by the people, and for the people, as long as the government and its officials permit bribery in any form. — John Jay Hooker
If the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) raises the hackles of the conspiracy theorists, the Bilderberg meetings must induce apocalyptic visions of omnipotent international bankers plotting with unscrupulous government officials to impose cunning schemes on an ignorant and unsuspecting world. — David Rockefeller
Look, all administrations, all governments lie, all officials lie and nothing they say is to be believed. That's a pretty good rule. — Daniel Ellsberg
Contrary to popular opinion, the Constitution was not - and is not - a grant of rights to the citizenry. Instead, the Constitution is a "barbed-wire entanglement" designed to interfere with, restrict, and impede government officials in the exercise of political power. — Jacob G. Hornberger
Public Office Quotes
As touching nature I am a worm of this earth, and yet a subject of this commonwealth; but as touching the office wherein it has pleased God to place me, I am a watchman... For that reason I am bound in conscience to blow the trumpet publicly. — John Knox
No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office. — George Bernard Shaw
A man of abilities and character, of any sect whatever, may be admitted to any office of public trust under the United States. — Edmund Randolph
We have the incredible privilege of serving in the highest offices in the state. We must prove ourselves worthy of our fellow citizens' faith. We must be trusted to always place the public's good above our own and to always choose fairness over favoritism. — Jodi Rell
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers. — Daniel J. Boorstin
What if the American people woke up and understood that the official reasons for going to war are almost always based on lies and promoted by war propaganda in order to serve special interests.
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. — H. L. Mencken
While I have served in public office for 30 years, my professional training is as a pharmacist, not a lawyer or an accountant. — George Ryan
To get your name well enough known that you can run for a public office, some people do it by being great lawyers or philanthropists or business people or work their way up the political ladder. I happened to become known from a different route. — John Glenn
The problem is not in the office: the problem is out there. Every day I go to the people, go to the street. I can ask the people what they want, what they need. — Joko Widodo
Elected Officials Quotes
Long experience, in the United States and in other advanced economies, has demonstrated that monetary policy is most successful when decisions are rendered independent of influence by elected officials. — Jerome Powell
History has shown that a country most effectively speaks with one voice. When nationally elected officials work together, build consensus, and provide leadership, the American people will follow. — Chuck Hagel
You read constantly that banks are lobbying regulators and elected officials as if this is inappropriate. We don't look at it that way. — Jamie Dimon
The principles behind explaining and educating the product or the elected official is similar, even though the actual execution of it is very, very different. — Frank Luntz
This commitment to truth is something one senses more and more Americans yearning for, just as they are becoming more and more sophisticated at knowing when the truth is being obscured - an irony that seems to elude most of todays elected officials. — Michael Musto
[A politician is] a person skilled in the art of compromise. Usually an elected official who has compromised to get nominated, compromised to get elected, and compromised repeatedly to stay in office. — Dick Gregory
I honestly believe I'd make one of the worst elected officials in the history of this country. — Ross Perot
If something is being done on a secret basis in national security, that's a great reason for elected officials to not talk about it. And that's a great way to shirk accountability for it with the public. — Rachel Maddow
I feel like we put all the weight on the president, rather than distributing the weight to all of the elected officials. — Eric Andre
I spent many years working for voting rights, but we still see sophisticated efforts, led by white officials, to disenfranchise black voters in local and national elections. — Edward Brooke
Public Servant Quotes
An honest public servant can't become rich in politics. He can only attain greatness and satisfaction by service. — Harry S. Truman
We are public servants. Like consumers, who come to us like kings. — Joko Widodo
Law enforcement officers are never 'off duty.' They are dedicated public servants who are sworn to protect public safety at any time and place that the peace is threatened. They need all the help that they can get. — Barbara Boxer
when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the
same. — John F. Kennedy
The way things are supposed to work is that we're supposed to know virtually everything about what they [the government] do: that's why they're called public servants. They're supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that's why we're called private individuals. — Glenn Greenwald
The first lady is, and always has been, an unpaid public servant elected by one person, her husband. — Claudia Johnson
People want an idol. They want royalty. They don't want a public servant. Hell no. They want someone to clap for and go, "Oh, he touched my hand at the rally!" — Doug Stanhope
... the People of God have to elect public servants who know the difference between serving the public and killing the public, and that those who can't tell the difference don't belong in public office. — Frank Pavone
My heart and passion has always been to reform the criminal justice system. I want to be a public servant, and I wanted to be a prosecutor because I felt it was the best way forward. — Marilyn Mosby
I am not a perfect servant. I am a public servant doing my best against the odds. As I develop and serve, be patient. God is not finished with me yet. — Jesse Jackson
An artist, if he's unselfish and passionate, is always a living protest. Just to open his mouth is to protest: against conformism, against what is official, public, or national, what everyone else feels comfortable with, so the moment he opens his mouth, an artist is engaged, because opening his mouth is always scandalous. — Pier Paolo Pasolini
Further, although it makes sense for doctors and public health officials to categorize diseases based on whether they are caused by infections, malnutrition, tumors, and so on, an evolutionary perspective suggests that we should also look at the extent to which diseases are caused by evolutionary mismatches between the environmental conditions — Daniel Lieberman
The public are entitled to have an absolute guarantee of the financial probity and integrity of their elected representatives, their officials and above all of Ministers. They need to know that they are under financial obligations to nobody, other than public lending institutions, except to the extent that they are publicly declared. — Bertie Ahern
It’s almost hard to imagine anything more undemocratic than the view that political officials should not debate American wars in public, but only express concerns ‘privately with the administration.’ That’s just a small sliver of Johnson’s radicalism: replacing Feingold in the Senate with Ron Johnson would be a civil liberties travesty analogous to the economic travesty from, say, replacing Bernie Sanders with Lloyd Blankfein. — Glenn Greenwald
Campaign finance and ethics reform only works if it curtails all special interest groups equally and does not carve out any exceptions to benefit one party or another. 'Pay to play' reform was passed to limit the influence of big spending contractors over the public officials from whom they are trying to obtain work. — Thomas Kean, Jr.
We lose eight children and teenagers to gun violence every day. If a mysterious virus suddenly started killing eight of our children every day, America would mobilize teams of doctors and public health officials. We would move heaven and earth until we found a way to protect our children. But not with gun violence. — Elizabeth Warren
These international bankers and Rockefeller Standard Oil interests control the majority of newspapers and the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of public office officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. — Theodore Roosevelt
The Executive is charged officially in the Departments under it with the disbursement of the public money, and is responsible for the faithful application of it to the purposes for which it is raised. The Legislature is the watchful guardian over the public purse. It is its duty to see that the disbursement has been honestly made. — James Monroe
The first country to adopt happiness as an official goal of public policy is the tiny little country of Bhutan in Asia near China and India. — Derek Bok
There is nothing new and nothing truthful in the false accusations against public officials make by the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation today, ... The simple reality is that the Schaghticoke fail to meet the criteria for federal recognition. — Richard Blumenthal
The Chinese people have been forced to forget the Tiananmen massacre. There has been no public debate about the event, no official apology. The media aren't allowed to mention it. Still today people are being persecuted and imprisoned for disseminating information about it. — Ma Jian
I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt - or religious belief. — Edward Kennedy
Citizen participation is a device whereby public officials induce nonpublic individuals to act in a way the officials desire. — Daniel Patrick Moynihan
I believe that a guarantee of public access to government information is indispensable in the long run for any democratic society.... if officials make public only what they want citizens to know, then publicity becomes a sham and accountability meaningless. — Sissela Bok
Elections are a good deal like marriages. There's no accounting for anyone's taste. Every time we see a bridegroom we wonder why she ever picked him, and it's the same with public officials. — Will Rogers
The public is tired of politicians professing certain beliefs and not acting on those beliefs. They want elected officials who have the moral courage to do what they will say they will do when they're running for election. — Colonel Tom Parker
If you want to know the people of a nation, I am sure you can judge a great deal more about them from their cooking and eating traditions than you can from the words and actions of their public officials. — Peter Kropotkin
Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters. Not only is their time and labor due to the government, but they should scrupulously avoid in their political action, as well as in the discharge of their official duty, offending by a display of obtrusive partisanship their neighbors who have relations with them as public officials. — Grover Cleveland
I believe in an America ... where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other ecclesiastical source. — John F. Kennedy
Perhaps the worst example of Smithsonian contempt for Jesus Christ is seen in its 1994 publication of a coffee-table book entitled Smithsonian Time Lines of the Ancient World ... This flagrant display of religious bigotry and discrimination in a book officially sponsored by the Smithsonian is intellectually and academically dishonest. — Tim LaHaye
The Constitution does not protect the sovereignty of States for the benefit of the States or state governments as abstract political entities, or even for the benefit of the public officials governing the States. To the contrary, the Constitution divides authority between federal and state governments for the protection of individuals. — Sandra Day O'Connor
There are two parties involved in every corrupt transaction, typically a government official and a business person. Yet those who pay bribes are often depicted as innocent victims ... The reality is that both parties conspire to defraud the public. — Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
It is true that when people are appointed to positions and talk without any appreciation or understanding of scientists, well, that gets scientists worried. And when public officials talk about alternative facts, people who have devoted their careers to trying to uncover facts are dismayed. — Rush D. Holt, Jr.
We have to repair that trust ... I think anytime a public official lies, he undermines his own authority and squanders the public trust. — Bill Bradley
You have tens, hundreds of thousands of people in government, and just as many among contractors, who feel totally comfortable writing at the top of the document "internal use only," "official use only," and a million other synonyms, all of which amount to "none of your business" to the public. — Ted Gup
Happy family: The existence and maintenance of [this] is thought to make a politician fit for public office. According to this theory, the public are less concerned by whether or not they are effectively represented than by the need to be assured that the penises and vaginas of public officials are only used in legally sanctioned circumstances. — John Ralston Saul
I propose a Constitutional Amendment providing that, if any public official, elected or appointed, at any level of government, is caught lying to any member of the public for any reason, the punishment shall be death by public hanging. — L. Neil Smith
As a public official and being so highly visible, I have a responsibility to make it very clear that those people who will have cancer at one point in their lives will be able to function. — Lindy Boggs
A clear enunciation of these rights needs to be enshrined in the constitution to guarantee that this basic right of law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen shall not be infringed upon by anti-gun public officials. — Charlton Heston
People are tired of wasteful government programs and welfare chiselers, and they are angry about the constant spiral of taxes and government regulations, arrogant bureaucrats, and public officials who think all of mankind's problems can be solved by throwing the taxpayers dollars at them. — Ronald Reagan
Top IRS officials specifically targeted tea party groups and misled the public about its secret political targeting program led by ex-official Lois Lerner, according to a bombshell new congressional report. — Patrick Howley
Criticizing Fox News has nothing to do with criticizing the press. Fox News is not a news organization. It is the de facto leader of the GOP, and it is long past time that it is treated as such by the media, elected officials and the public. — David Brock
Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide-open and that...may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials. — William J. Brennan
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of public officials quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about public officials to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of public officials quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
