Civic Duty Quotes

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
― John F. Kennedy

“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“To me, history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me, it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is."

[The Title Always Comes Last; NEH 2003 Jefferson Lecturer interview profile]”
― David McCullough

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Let every man shovel out his own snow, and the whole city will be passable," said Gamache. Seeing Beauvoir's puzzled expression he added, "Emerson."

"Lake and Palmer?"

"Ralph and Waldo.”
― Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace

“Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?”
― George Washington

“The job facing American voters… in the days and years to come is to determine which hearts, minds and souls command those qualities best suited to unify a country rather than further divide it, to heal the wounds of a nation as opposed to aggravate its injuries, and to secure for the next generation a legacy of choices based on informed awareness rather than one of reactions based on unknowing fear.”
― Aberjhani, Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I.

“Discourse and critical thinking are essential tools when it comes to securing progress in a democratic society. But in the end, unity and engaged participation are what make it happen.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
― Adlai E. Stevenson II

“It can be difficult to speak truth to power. Circumstances, however, have made doing so increasingly necessary.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“Be a swan amidst swine,
Be water amidst wine.
When all be walking veggies,
Unleash your upright spine.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Conscience is my constitution,
Compassion is my culture,
Character is my government.
I don't need any second hand
constitution, second hand culture,
second hand government.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“I am justice absolute.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“I chose to take the weight of the world on my shoulders, but you don't necessarily have to. If you can't take the weight of the world on your shoulders, take the weight of your nation - if you can't take the weight of your nation, take the weight of your city - if you can't take the weight of your city, take the weight of your neighborhood. Start small but start somewhere - take responsibility for the issues of your immediate vicinity if not the whole world, and the world will change, slowly but surely.”
― Abhijit Naskar, No Foreigner Only Family

“Run for service, not office.
Chase change, not campaign victory.
If you can't change the world without office,
you definitely can't change it in office.

Who am I? I am Abhijit Naskar, EAS -
Earth Administrative Servant the First.
Who's next - who is thunderful enough,
to shoulder the world as living Atlas!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Run for service, not office.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“If you can't change the world without office, you definitely can't change it in office.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Voting may or may not yield the outcome individuals want, but without it, there is no democratic society. Instead of allowing decisions to happen, be sure you take an active roll in making them. This way you don’t give up your power to make decisions. Little elections are a big deal. Voting is a key freedom of American life. Not making a choice is a choice. Letting things happen by default is a choice. If we give up our right to make a choice- we have made a choice. When we choose not to vote, we give our power away to others who will choose for us. Not voting is giving up your right to vote. Not voting is giving up your rights. Not voting is choosing to give up on a democratic society.”
― unknown author

“Lions don't leave society in the hands of government. Government is second in command - civilians, chief commander.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Civil Sanity
(Sonnet 1631)

You know what the problem is!

We question love
more than we question hate.
We question humility
more than we question arrogance.

We question benevolence
more than we question biases.
We question integrity
more than we question deceit.

We question curiosity
more than we question prejudice.
We question character
more than we question cowardice.

Problem is, we question humanity
more than we question inhumanity.
Grow out of such prehistoric normalcy,
and the world will encounter civil sanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Sharing is not socialism,
Caring is not altruism.
Helping is not humanism,
Reform is not politicalism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Let me say at once that I am no advocate for a foolish cosmopolitanism. I believe that a man must be a good patriot before he can be, and as the only possible way of being, a good citizen of the world. Experience teaches us that the average man who protests that his international feeling swamps his national feeling, that he does not care for his country because he cares so much for mankind, in actual practice proves himself the foe of mankind; that the man who says that he does not care to be a citizen of any one country, because he is the citizen of the world, is in fact usually an exceedingly undesirable citizen of whatever corner of the world he happens at the moment to be in. In the dim future all moral needs and moral standards may change; but at present, if a man can view his own country and all other countries from the same level with tepid indifference, it is wise to distrust him, just as it is wise to distrust the man who can take the same dispassionate view of his wife and mother. However broad and deep a man’s sympathies, however intense his activities, he need have no fear that they will be cramped by love of his native land.

Now, this does not mean in the least that a man should not wish to do good outside of his native land. On the contrary, just as I think that the man who loves his family is more apt to be a good neighbor than the man who does not, so I think that the most useful member of the family of nations is normally a strongly patriotic nation. So far from patriotism being inconsistent with a proper regard for the rights of other nations, I hold that the true patriot, who is as jealous of national honor as a gentleman of his own honor, will be careful to see that the nations neither inflect nor suffer wrong, just as a gentleman scorns equally to wrong others or to suffer others to wrong him. I do not for one moment admit that a man should act deceitfully as a public servant in his dealing with other nations, any more than he should act deceitfully in his dealings as a private citizen with other private citizens. I do not for one moment admit that a nation should treat other nations in a different spirit from that in which an honorable man would treat other men.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“To lift the world is a labor of love,
Still it strikes strain on mind at times.
That's where reformer stands out in crowd,
No strain clouds long a mission-driven mind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“Seek yourself in the joy of neighbors,
You shall know the meaning of justice.
Seek yourself in smiles of the world,
You shall emerge as antidote to malice.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Keep struggling, o brave soldier - keep struggling till politicians become an extinct species and politics an extinct profession.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“Keep struggling, o brave soldier - keep struggling till politicians become an extinct species and politics an extinct profession. The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism selected randomly on the basis of charisma and popularity by hysterical whim.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“Human nerves are the life-circuit of society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“We cannot stand accountable without offending a few pricks.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Beyond the Nature of Truth (The Sonnet)

Do you realize how serious the situation is,
Are you aware of the lives ruined by cruelty?
Because if you stay aloof in your cloud castle,
All talk of humanity is but a tale of fantasy.

Can you tell the real from the unreal,
Can you tell facts from fantasy?
I am not talkin' in terms of neuroscience,
I am askin' you as a human, of human responsibility.

We can argue about the nature of truth all we want,
But that won't alleviate the suffering of society.
So the question is, do you know the worth of life,
How far will you go to preserve another's serenity!

Does human welfare overpower your insecurity?
Or is the self still separate from society?”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission