How do we create a harmonious society out of so many kinds of people? The key is tolerance — the one value that is indispensable in creating community.
BARBARA JORDANWe 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.
More Barbara Jordan Quotes
-
-
We can certainly defuse the intensity of the anti-immigrant feeling if we can bring some reality to the discussion by showing that they are not using that many resources.
BARBARA JORDAN -
We want to be in control of our lives. Whether we are jungle fighters, craftsmen, company men, gamesmen, we want to be in control. And when the government erodes that control, we are not comfortable.
BARBARA JORDAN -
We must have an economy that does not force the migrant worker’s child to miss school in order to earn…just so the family can eat. That is the moral bankruptcy that trickle-down economics is all about.
BARBARA JORDAN -
We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community.
BARBARA JORDAN -
Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community. It’s tough, difficult, not easy. But a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that we share a common destiny.
BARBARA JORDAN -
A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation.
BARBARA JORDAN -
Education remains the key to both economic and political empowerment.
BARBARA JORDAN -
I live a day at a time. Each day I look for a kernel of excitement. In the morning, I say: ‘What is my exciting thing for today?’ Then, I do the day. Don’t ask me about tomorrow.
BARBARA JORDAN -
Let us heed the voice of the people and recognize their common sense. If we do not, we not only blaspheme our political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans.
BARBARA JORDAN -
The earth is bread we take and eat.
BARBARA JORDAN -
We must exchange the philosophy of excuse – what I am is beyond my control for the philosophy of responsibility.
BARBARA JORDAN -
I get from the soil and spirit of Texas the feeling that I, as an individual, can accomplish whatever I want to, and that there are no limits, that you can just keep going, just keep soaring. I like that spirit.
BARBARA JORDAN -
The stakes … are too high for government to be a spectator sport.
BARBARA JORDAN -
Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.
BARBARA JORDAN -
Credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: Those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave.
BARBARA JORDAN -
I believe that women have a capacity for understanding and compassion which a man structurally does not have, does not have it because he cannot have it. He’s just incapable of it.
BARBARA JORDAN -
The Supreme Court has always been the last bastion of the protection of our freedoms.
BARBARA JORDAN -
What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government should do everything and the idea, the belief, that government ought to do nothing. Strike a balance.
BARBARA JORDAN -
[It is] one of the most complex and emotional issues of out time.
BARBARA JORDAN -
We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power; that the authority of the people is to be extended, not restricted.
BARBARA JORDAN -
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 -
We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves.
BARBARA JORDAN -
Life is too large to hang out a sign: ‘For Men Only.
BARBARA JORDAN -
We have a positive vision of the future founded on the belief that the gap between the promise and reality of America can one day be finally closed. We believe that.
BARBARA JORDAN -
The majority of the American people still believe that every single individual in this country is entitled to just as much respect, just as much dignity, as every other individual.
BARBARA JORDAN -
There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.
BARBARA JORDAN