Democracy is extremely complex; it is extremely concrete. It's about constantly choosing, finding, developing practical options within the common good. Constantly searching for how to express in a practical way the common good, not in some grand way, some grand and absolute way, but in a very comfortable way.

John Ralston Saul

Reflection is only a partial understanding of truth if it does not translate itself in practice into commitments to the common good and justice. Truth is not mere abstraction but something to be done and is only apprehended when this is realized.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel

Truth Men Good

Too many politicians are shifting the critical themes of our national conversations from a 'big ideas' American Brand Platform to narrowly focused, polarizing sound bites that put party philosophy before what used to be heralded as the common good. These ideas, more often than not, divide us rather than serve to bind us.

Alan Siegel

Good Art Used

We all want Kentucky to be a place where our children and grandchildren want to - and can afford to raise their own children, keeping families together and growing our commonwealth. For the common good.

Andy Beshear

Good Wing Win

The billionaire who sits on his money and doesn't do anything for the common good - I'm not interested in that person.

Arpad Busson

Money Good Who

A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.

Barbara Jordan

Good Willingness Willing

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.

Barbara Jordan

Good You Van

Our nation's commitment is to provide a quality education to every child to serve the public common good. Accordingly, we must shift the paradigm to think of education funding as investments made in individual children, not in institutions or buildings.

Betsy DeVos

Men Good Education

I know Barack Obama. And I believe that as president, he'll pursue the common good by seeking common ground rather than trying to divide us.

Bob Casey, Jr.

Good Yin Us

We need to hold accountable anyone who has misused power, and put that power to work for the common good. That includes, but goes beyond, police reform.

Cal Cunningham

Work Power Good

There is an important message that all political leaders should be taking from the response to coronavirus, and that is that people are prepared to make hard choices for the common good.

Caroline Lucas

Good Age Virus

Our mission and task has always been to find a pragmatic balance among competing interests that will serve the greatest common good.

Carrie Lam

Pet Great Good

A consensus on realising the goal of universal suffrage is not unattainable if we bear the common good in mind, move a step further, and try to resolve the differences or even stop insisting on some of one's own views.

Carrie Lam

Good Age Views

In my opinion, serving the common good is the true purpose of politics and is also the perspective through which our community should consider constitutional reform.

Carrie Lam

Politics Good Which

Once upon a time there was a Queen who had a son so ugly and so misshapen that it was long disputed whether he had human form. A fairy who was at his birth said, however, that he would be very amiable for all that, since he would have uncommon good sense.

Charles Perrault

Time Good Would

Patriotism is love of country. But you can't love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. We don't always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good.

Cory Booker

Women Power Patriotism

I'm bothered when people don't understand that they have an obligation to use their best measure of devotion, of resources, to sacrifice for the common good.

Cory Booker

Good Use Us

Every dollar that is printed should not represent a debt to private bankers. It should represent an investment potential in the common good, in the common needs of our country.

Cynthia McKinney

Men Good Vest

Balancing the common good with the freedom and liberty to exercise that individuality has been and remains a challenge for those committed to democracy while understanding that the polis ensures our participation and therefore our citizenship.

David Blunkett

Good Freedom Art

When it all boils down, it's about embracing each others' stories and maybe even finding that synergy to collaborate for the common good.

Dhani Jones

Good T Synergy

The great American tradition is one of pluralism, not exclusive secularism. The strength of our country is reflected in the contributions that we all make to the common good.

Donald Wuerl

Strength Great Good

No one should be forced to violate one's conscience, nor should anyone be forced out of service of the common good because there are some things their conscience tells them they cannot do.

Donald Wuerl

Following the rise of the Labour Party it seemed reasonable, in 1927, to expect, or at least hope, that co-operation for the common good might gradually replace the competitiveness of capitalism.

Dora Russell

I believe in cooperating for the common good.

Erskine Bowles

Sincere and generous collaboration is the best way to fulfil the legitimate aspirations of each person and achieve great collective goals for the common good and the general interest.

Felipe VI of Spain

Chicago is one city. We shall work as one people for our common good and our common goals.

Harold Washington

Many of you are well enough off that the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.

Hillary Clinton

That future depends on the values of self-government, our sense of duty, loyalty, self-confidence and regard for the common good. We are a diverse country, and getting more diverse. And these virtues are what keep this great country together.

Jeff Miller

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

Jimmy Carter

Providing for the common good, making people feel secure in their communities and homes - this is the central job of government. it's why all of us are here serving our state and our people.

John Baldacci

Some of us learned in a school of philosophy which taught that all was for the common good and nothing for oneself and have never, in any case, regarded the pursuit of happiness as anything other than an aberration of the human spirit.

John Grierson

It doesn't thrill me to bits that the state has to use the tools of electronic surveillance to keep us safe, but it seems clear to me that it does, and that our right to privacy needs to be qualified, just as our other rights are qualified, in the interest of general security and the common good.

John Lanchester

Democracy is extremely complex; it is extremely concrete. It's about constantly choosing, finding, developing practical options within the common good. Constantly searching for how to express in a practical way the common good, not in some grand way, some grand and absolute way, but in a very comfortable way.

John Ralston Saul

There's always a tension between those who would like to garner wealth, and they contribute a lot to society. There's also those who say, 'I believe in the common good. I want that to be enlarged.' They contribute a lot to society. The tension, the debate, between these two views is extremely important to our progress.

John Sulston

Religion creates community, community creates altruism and altruism turns us away from self and towards the common good... There is something about the tenor of relationships within a religious community that makes it the best tutorial in citizenship and good neighborliness.

Jonathan Sacks

We need to rediscover the idea of the common good and work together to build a home.

Jonathan Sacks

When you have a highly divided society, it's hard to come together to make investments in the common good.

Joseph Stiglitz

I learned that leadership is about falling in love with the people and the people falling in love with you. It is about serving the people with selflessness, with sacrifice, and with the need to put the common good ahead of personal interests.

Joyce Banda

Anyone can accomplish anything and rise to the challenge as long as they are willing to work with others, to let go of the personal agenda, to reach a higher goal, and to do what is right for the common good.

Julie Payette

When you're fund-raising for schools, then something's wrong. We seem to have lost some sort of sense of what the common good is, and if you don't have a sense of what the common good is, then at least give to what you think your specific goods are.

Lewis Black

What are the American ideals? They are the development of the individual for his own and the common good; the development of the individual through liberty; and the attainment of the common good through democracy and social justice.

Louis D. Brandeis

Be it terrorists or 'blinded by greed' capitalists or 'deaf and dumb and siloed' officials, special interests will always tyrannize the common good.

Mark Goulston

At best, a 100-day measurement of a new presidency is a meaningless abstraction. At worst, it's an invite to cheap politicking at the expense of the common good.

Matt Gaetz

No decisions should ever be made without asking the question, is this for the common good?

Michael Moore

When you have a new government assume power, everyone, without exception, has to work for the benefit of the common good.

Michel Temer

For Christians, faith is a precious good, the most valuable personal and social resource. When it is left untapped, the common good suffers - not just the particular interests of Christians.

Miroslav Volf

In a politically diverse nation, only by finding that common ground can we achieve results for the common good.

Olympia Snowe

My dream is to achieve AI for the common good.

Oren Etzioni

Political civility is not about being polite to each other. It's about reclaiming the power of 'We the People' to come together, debate the common good and call American democracy back to its highest values amid our differences.

Parker Palmer

The U.S. cannot force Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds to make peace or to act for the common good. They have been in conflict for 1,400 years.

Peter DeFazio

The life of the community, both domestically and internationally, clearly demonstrates that respect for rights, and the guarantees that follow from them, are measures of the common good that serve to evaluate the relationship between justice and injustice, development and poverty, security and conflict.

Pope Benedict XVI