Public Opinion Quotes - Page 12

• Public opinion always wants easy money, that is, low interest rates.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Money, Want, Easy

  "A Critique of Interventionism". Book by Ludwig von Mises, p. 163, 1929.

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• We are a democracy, and there is only one way to get a democracy on its feet in the matter of its individual, its social, its municipal, its State, its National conduct, and that is by keeping the public informed about what is going on.There isnot a crime, there isnot a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice which does not live by secrecy.Get these things out in the open, describe them, attack them, ridicule them in the press, and sooner or later public opinion will sweep them away.

  Joseph Pulitzer

  Feet, Democracy, Vices

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• The task of the political philosopher can only be to influence public opinion, not to organize people for action. He will do so effectively only if he is not concerned with what is now politically possible but consistently defends the "general principles which are always the same." In this sense I doubt whether there can be such a thing as a conservative political philosophy. Conservatism may often be a useful practical maxim, but it does not give us any guiding principles which can influence long-range developments.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Philosophy, Guiding Principles, Often Is

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek, Postscript: Why I Am Not a Conservative, 1960.

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• The Soviet Union's propaganda clearly wishes to use public opinion in this country to get the West to reduce its own arms while doing nothing themselves. In this way they would gain nuclear superiority. This is simply not on.

  James Callaghan

  Country, Wish, Use

  James Callaghan's speech at Cardiff (May 25, 1983), as quoted in "Callaghan defends deterrent" by Tim Jones in The Times (p. 1), May 26, 1983.

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• To spread healthy ideas among even the lowest classes of people, to remove men from the influence of prejudice and passion, to make reason the arbiter and supreme guide of public opinion; that is the essential goal of the sciences; that is how science will contribute to the advancement of civilization, and that is what deserves protection of governments who want to insure the stability of their power.

  Georges Cuvier

  Passion, Men, Civilization

  "Rapport historique sur les progrès des sciences naturelles depuis 1789, et sur leur état actuel". Book edited by Georges Cuvier (translated), 1810.

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• Although objectively greater demands are placed on this authority, it operates less as a public opinion giving a rational foundation to the exercise of political and social authority, the more it is generated for the purpose of an abstract vote that amounts to no more than an act of acclamation within a public sphere temporarily manufactured for show or manipulation.

  Jurgen Habermas

  Exercise, Giving, Political

  "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere". Book by Jürgen Habermas, 1962.

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• We've seen in terms of the reaction to some proposals in the Budget already how resistant that public opinion is to, first of all, a public comprehension of the new paradigm in which we have to operate; and secondly, to the rationale for the decisions that we're taking and the reason for those decisions to be implemented and followed through.

  Brian Cowen

  Decision, Rationale, Comprehension

  Speech at the First Business Roundtable with the Government of Ireland, the Conrad Hotel, Dublin, www.taoiseach.gov.ie. October 30, 2008.

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• Fritzsche, radio propaganda chief, by manipulation of the truth goaded German public opinion into frenzied support of the regime and anesthetized the independent judgment of the population so that they did without question their masters' bidding.

  Hans Fritzsche

  Independent, Support, Population

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• All Governments rest mainly on public opinion, and to that of his own subjects every wise Sovereign will look. The opinion of his subjects will force a Sovereign to do his duty, and by that opinion will he be exalted or depressed in the politics of the world.

  Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

  Wise, Government, Looks

  Trial of John Vint and others, 27 How. St. Tr. 640, 1799.

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• Economic freedom is in our eyes a good. It is among the highest of temporal goods because it is necessary to the highest life of society through the dignity of man and through the multiplicity of his action, in which multiplicity is life. Through well-divided property alone can the units of society react upon the State. Through it alone can a public opinion flourish. Only where the bulk of the cells are healthy can the whole organism thrive.

  Hilaire Belloc

  Eye, Men, Cells

  Hilaire Belloc (2002). “An Essay on the Restoration of Property”, p.26, IHS Press

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• Let us not confuse objectives with methods. Too many so-called leaders of the nation fail to see the forest because of the trees. Too many of them fail to recognize the vital necessity of planning for definite objectives. True leadership calls for the setting forth of the objectives and the rallying of public opinion in support of these objectives.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Wisdom, Support, Tree

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• What I and other commentators do is attempt to move the public opinion. We try to change minds.

  Ann Coulter

  Moving, Mind, Trying

  "Ann Coulter: The "Never Trust a Liberal over 3" Interview". Interview with Kam Williams, m.thetimesweekly.com. November 20, 2013.

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• The court doesn't follow public opinion. The court's views are radically out of step with public opinion.

  Ted Cruz

  Views, Steps, Court

  Interview with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. June 29, 2015.

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• The court follows elite opinion, not public opinion. And Democratic leaders in Congress and Republican leaders in Congress follow elite opinion as well. It's what I've called "the Washington cartel." It's career politicians in both parties. It is lobbyists and giant corporations.

  Ted Cruz

  Party, Careers, Leader

  Source: www.npr.org

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• I am convinced that those societies (such as the Native American peoples) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, & restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep. I do not exaggerate.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Native American, Sheep, Government

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• Thea was still under the belief that public opinion could be placated; that if you clucked often enough, the hens would mistake you for one of themselves.

  Willa Cather

  Mistake, Thinking, Hens

  Willa Cather (2013). “The Best of Willa Cather”, p.265, Simon and Schuster

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• No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Philosophical, Doe, Policy

  Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.17, Wildside Press LLC

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• Sound conviction should influence us rather than public opinion.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Sound, Influence, Conviction

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• He never sought to stem the current. [Of a statesman who accommodates his views to public opinion.]

  Juvenal

  Views, Currents, Stem

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• The soldier's business is to take life. For that he is paid by the State, eulogized by political charlatans and upheld by public hysteria. But woman's function is to give life, yet neither the State nor politicians nor public opinion have ever made the slightest provision in return for the life woman has given.

  Emma Goldman

  Hysteria, Giving, Political

  Emma Goldman (2016). “Anarchy and the Sex Question: Essays on Women and Emancipation, 1896–1926”, p.102, PM Press

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• Society,--the only field where the sexes have ever met on terms of equality, the arena where character is formed and studied, the cradle and the realm of public opinion, the crucible of ideas, the world's university, at once a school and a theater, the spur and the crown of ambition, the tribunal which unmasks pretension and stamps real merit, the power that gives government leave to be, and outruns the lazy Church in fixing the moral sense of the eye.

  Wendell Phillips

  Sex, Real, School

  Wendell Phillips (1864). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters”, p.244

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• Politicians have responsibility to act if the public opinion changes. Flooding, storms, droughts are all getting people talking about climate change. I wonder if someday Atlanta will run out of water?

  David Titley

  Running, Responsibility, Atlanta

  Source: www.slate.com

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• Whatever may be the temporary applause of men, or the expressions of public opinion, it may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that no true and permanent fame can be founded, except in labors which promote the happiness of mankind.

  Charles Sumner

  Men, Expression, May

  Charles Sumner (1850). “Orations and Speeches [1845-1850]”, p.332

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• Public opinion which, to be sure, can at times be helpful, must never for an instant swerve us from what we know in our heart we are trying to convey. For honesty is the great requisite of art. If we remain honest with ourselves, art, which is always there, never lets us down.

  Cornelia Otis Skinner

  Art, Honesty, Trying

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• Public opinion, - a tyrant, sitting in the dark, wrapt up in mystification and vague terrors of obscurity; deriving power no one knows from whom ... - but irresistible in its power to quell thought, to repress action, to silence conviction.

  Harriet Martineau

  Dark, Tyrants, Silence

  Harriet Martineau (1837). “Society in America”, p.138

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