Famous Quotes

"Talk of citizenship today is often thin and tinny. The word has a faintly old-fashioned feel to it when used in everyday conversation. When evoked in national politics, it's usually accompanied by the shrill whine of a descending culture-war mortar."

Eric Liu on Politics

More quotes about Politics

• "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future."

  John F. Kennedy on Politics

• "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress but I repeat myself."

  Mark Twain on Politics

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

  Plato on Politics

• "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."

  Milton Friedman on Politics

• "It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

  Joseph Stalin on Politics

More quotes by Eric Liu

• "Here's a proposal, offered only partly in jest: no resident of the United States, whether born here or abroad, should get to be a citizen until age 18, at which time each such resident has to take a test."

• "In the end no segregationist scheme has withstood the force of a simple idea: equality under law."

• "Have you ever watched someone become American? Last week, at a national citizenship conference I organize, thirty immigrants from 17 countries swore an oath and became citizens of the United States. It was a stirring experience for the hundreds of people in the room."

• "True fans of the Constitution, like true fans of the national pastime, acknowledge the critical role of human judgment in making tough calls. We don't expect flawless interpretation. We expect good faith. We demand honesty."

• "'The Purpose-Driven Life' is not just a mega-bestselling work of Christian faith it is the thing that every voter, secular or not, yearns for."