Many people consider the things which government does for them as social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism.

About Earl Warren

Portrait of Earl Warren

Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th chief justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969 and as the 30th governor of California from 1943 to 1953. The Warren Court presided over a major shift...

More quotations from Earl Warren

Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for.

Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due.

I'm very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. 'Don't complain about growing old—many, many people do not have that privilege.

I always turn to the sports pages first, which record people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures.

More quotations tagged with “government”

For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.

While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government, in the short space of four years.

—Abraham Lincoln

There is an important sense in which government is distinctive from administration. One is perpetual, the other is temporary and changeable. A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration.

—Abraham Lincoln

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

—George Bernard Shaw

poverty government wealth redistribution

I have a friend who has devoted most of his adult life to resisting the madness of war through actions of justice and peace. He… lives in poverty so as to stay below the taxation level.… The money he "should" have given the government over the years he has donated to peace-and-justice projects. Does he have any results to show for his efforts? Has he been effective? Hardly—at least, not by the normal calculus. His years of commitment to peacemaking have been years of steady increase in wars and rumors of wars. So how does he stay healthy and sane? How does he maintain a commitment to this sort of active life? "I have never asked myself if I was being effective," he says, "but only if I was being faithful." He judges his action not by the results it gets, but by its fidelity to his own calling and identity.

—Parker J. Palmer

justice war peace identity poverty government faith calling

History

11 Jul 2015 Added