Public Quotes

I am not a performer but occasionally I deliberately work in a public context. Some sculptures need the movement of people around them to work.

That test should not be about ratings. What should weigh is the knowledge that a public broadcaster delivers programmes that matter.

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.

I think it is very difficult today to have a reasoned public discourse on any controversial subject. Certainly, election years present a complicating factor.

Meanwhile, politics is about getting a candidate in front of the public as a star, politics as rock'n'roll, politics as a movie.

For most of my life, I deliberately led a private life in the public eye.

I've got to restructure all my personal life now in order to accommodate public service, which is fine.

But the reporter has the responsibility to determine, number one, whether that is true, and number two, to make a judgment as to whether it's in the public interest and whether or not it should be part of the debate.

I'll always be grateful to the public of intelligent amateurs.

I was raised on the values of speaking up and making a positive difference in a very political family that believed in the importance of public service.

For decades, the journalistic norm had been that the private lives of public officials remained private unless that life impinged on public performance.

If we insist that public life be reserved for those whose personal history is pristine, we are not going to get paragons of virtue running our affairs. We will get the very rich, who contract out the messy things in life the very dull, who have nothing to hide and nothing to show and the very devious, expert at covering their tracks and ambitious enough to risk their discovery.

It is not to benefit CBS, not to benefit its reporters. On this one, the entire basis of it is this is a way to get more information, more important information to the public. And that's why so many states recognize this.

What is inherently wrong with the word 'politician' if the fellow has devoted his life to holding public office and trying to do something for his people?

Human and moral factors must always be considered. They must never be missing from policies and from public discussion.

House and Senate Republicans are now united in adopting earmark bans. We hope President Obama will follow through on his support for an earmark ban by pressing Democratic leaders to join House and Senate Republicans in taking this critical step to restore public trust.

What celebrities are useful for is bringing attention to the public and making them more aware. They can be unbelievably effective.

It is not at all clear how much the media influences public opinion and how much public opinion influences the media.

We call ourselves public servants but I'll tell you this: we as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good.

We are not for disarming people. When you have an epidemic it's a public health issue, a safety issue.

Politics is an act of faith; you have to show some kind of confidence in the intellectual and moral capacity of the public.

Roosevelt's magic lay in one facet of his personality: He knew how to take the risk. No other man in public life I knew could so readily take the challenge of the new.

I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public.

And if we make the process political, if we start to make it personal, we're actually going to frustrate good public policy, in terms of managing this money.

The public thinks that homelessness is about not having any accommodation to go to.

When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues, the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce, and the Senate becomes incapable of either properly evaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public.

While I believe our Constitution allows for State and local governments to execute the power of eminent domain for those purposes that specifically serve the public good, condemning property solely to implement economic development plans is not serving the public good.

The more highly public life is organized the lower does its morality sink.

Actual human discourse happens within a number of contexts, not in some sort of unified public forum.

In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.