Quote

I'm a Democrat, and there are an important group of things only the government can do. But let us be clear that for most of the world, what they most need is less government.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Age: 76 †
Born: 1927
Born: March 16
Died: 2003
Died: March 26
Diplomat
Former United States Senator
Military Personnel
Politician
Sociologist
Teacher
Writer
Tulsa
Oklahoma
Daniel Patrick Pat Moynihan
Daniel Patrick
Important
Needs
Democrat
Things
Group
World
Groups
Clear
Less
Government
Need

More quotes by Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Image
The liberal left can be as rigid and destructive as any force in American life.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
In too many cases, if our Government had set out determined to destroy the family, it couldn't have done greater damage than some of what we see today.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
At the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of the Negro society is the deterioration of the Negro family.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
If we get into the mind-set where the good becomes the enemy of the best, we will get nothing.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
As the family goes, so go the children.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
Secrecy is for losers.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
The nature of the new world system was not so different from the old. It was for the moment more stable, but a reasonable forecast would be that Africa in particular had a century of border wars ahead of it.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
The principal objective of American government at every level should be to see that children are born into intact families and that they remain so.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
The steady expansion of welfare programs can be taken as a measure of the steady disintegration of the Negro family structure over the past generation in the United States.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
The status quo is working.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
Irresponsibility breeds irresponsibility. The finances of government are so central. You'd think that would be pretty obvious.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
If the newspapers of a country are filled with good news, the jails of that country will be filled with good people.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
We've come full circle but the best remains the heart of the city, the greatest center of the greatest city, our Acropolis, where our Christmas tree is lighted.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
When a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, he can bet there are good men in jail.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
Citizen participation is a device whereby public officials induce nonpublic individuals to act in a way the officials desire.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
A commonplace of political rhetoric has it that the quality of a civilization may be measured by how it cares for its elderly. Just as surely, the future of a society may be forecast by how it cares for its young.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
The American Constitution was designed to make it hard to have too much government.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Image
No one is innocent after the experience of governing. But not everyone is guilty.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan