Public Interest Quotes

• He is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention

  Adam Smith

  Ignorance, Invisible Hand, Hands

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 2 (1776) See Adam Smith 1

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  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

  Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

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  I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Money, Believe, Army

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• The public interest requires doing today those things that men of intelligence and good will would wish, five or ten years hence, had been done.

  Edmund Burke

  Men, Years, Wish

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• One can't allow blind loyalty to a friendship to lead one away from acting in the public interest. If Martin [Schulz] were to propose something that was totally absurd, our friendship would not prevent me from doing the opposite.

  Jean-Claude Juncker

  Loyalty, Opposites, Acting

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• The public interest may be presumed to be what men would choose if they saw clearly, thought rationally, acted disinterestedly and benevolently.

  Walter Lippmann

  Men, May, Saws

  1955 The Public Philosophy, ch.4.

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• Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention.

  Adam Smith

  Hands, Invisible Hand, Liberty

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 2 (1776) See Adam Smith 1

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• Why something in the public interest such as television news can be fought over, like a chain of hamburger stands, eludes me.

  Jimmy Breslin

  Ties, News, Television

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• What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Freedom, Gun

  Letter toWilliam Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

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• By pursuing his own interest (the individual) frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

  Adam Smith

  Invisible Hand, Done, Individual

  1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, bk.4, ch.3.

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• The issuing power [of money] should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Taken, Democracies Have, Government

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• People who intend only to seek their own benefit are “led by an invisible hand to serve a public interest which was no part of” their intention. I say that there is a reverse invisible hand: People who intend to serve only the public interest are led by an invisible hand to serve private interests which was no part of their intention.

  Milton Friedman

  Hands, Invisible Hand, People

  "Why Government Is the Problem".

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• To serve the public interest is not the same as being a servant of public opinion.

  Sidney Hook

  Public Opinion, Interest, Servant

  Sidney Hook (1965). “Political Power and Personal Freedom: Critical Studies in Democracy, Communism, and Civil Rights”

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• As a public interest lawyer, your fund of injustice will never be empty.

  Ralph Nader

  Lawyer, Injustice, Empty

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• I want to encourage public interest in space. I have never let my condition stop me. You only live once.

  Stephen Hawking

  Space, Want, You Only Live Once

  "Q & A: Stephen Hawking and daughter Lucy". Today Interview, www.nbcnews.com. November 1, 2007.

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• The trouble is that privacy is at once essential to, and in tension with, both freedom and security. A cabinet minister who keeps his mistress in satin sheets at the French taxpayer's expense cannot justly object when the press exposes his misuse of public funds. Our freedom to scrutinise the conduct of public figures trumps that minister's claim to privacy. The question is: where and how do we draw the line between a genuine public interest and that which is merely what interests the public?

  Timothy Garton Ash

  Mistress, Lines, Cabinets

  "Whether it's hacking or the NSA, some of us don't accept that privacy is dead". www.theguardian.com. October 31, 2013.

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• Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others.

  Ayn Rand

  Rights, Ideas, Numbers

  Ayn Rand (1990). “The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought”, p.243, Penguin

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• As so often happens in politics, what appears to be politically expedient for those in power rarely overlaps with the public interest. The lesser evils of the regime become entrenched, while the greater good is never realized.

  Jason Stearns

  Evil, Regimes, Interest

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• Companies like Enron have learned that small investments in endowing chairs, sponsoring research programs or hiring moonlighting professors can return big payoffs in generating books, reports, articles, testimony and other materials to push for and rationalize public policy positions that damage the public interest but benefit corporate bottomlines.

  Ralph Nader

  Book, Research, Benefits

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• For over a century, popular struggles in the democracies have used the nation-state to temper raw capitalism. The power of voters has offset the power of capital. But as national barriers have come down in the name of freer commerce, so has the capacity of governments to manage capitalism in a broad public interest. So the real issue is not "trade" but democratic governance.

  Robert Kuttner

  Real, Struggle, Democracies Have

  "Globalization and Its Critics". The American Prospect, Volume 12, July 2-16, 2001.

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• All "public interest' legislation (and any distribution of money taken by force from some men for the unearned benefit of others) comes down ultimately to the grant of an undefined undefinable, non-objective, arbitrary power to some government officials. The worst aspect of it is not that such a power can be used dishonestly, but that it cannot be used honestly. The wisest man in the world, with the purest integrity, cannot find a criterion for the just, equitable, rational application of an unjust, inequitable, irrational principle.

  Ayn Rand

  Integrity, Taken, Men

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.161, Penguin

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• Deep Throat did serve the public interest by providing the guidance and information to us.

  Bob Woodward

  Information, Guidance, Interest

  "Watergate: 25 Years Later". The Washington Post Interview, www.washingtonpost.com. June 17, 1997.

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• People tend to assess the relative importance of issues by the ease with which they are retrieved from memory—and this is largely determined by the extent of coverage in the media. Frequently mentioned topics populate the mind even as others slip away from awareness. In turn, what the media choose to report corresponds to their view of what is currently on the public’s mind. It is no accident that authoritarian regimes exert substantial pressure on independent media. Because public interest is most easily aroused by dramatic events and by celebrities, media feeding frenzies are common

  Daniel Kahneman

  Memories, Independent, Views

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• No one’s personal life is in the public interest. It’s gossip, bottom line. End of story.

  Kevin Spacey

  Gossip, Stories, Lines

  "Kevin Spacey On His New Film Casino Jack: Interview and Trailer". Interview with Kevin Sessums, www.thedailybeast.com. December 14, 2010.

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• But I must add that the U.S. government must not, as by this order, undertake to run the churches. When an individual, in a church or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest, he must be checked; but let the churches, as such take care of themselves. It will not do for the U.S. to appoint Trustees, Supervisors, or other agents for the churches.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Running, Religious, Government

  Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 2: 1859-1865: Library of America #46”, p.427, Library of America

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