Quotes About Institutions

We grow up in educational and religious institutions that treat us as members of an audience instead of actors in a drama, and as a result we become adults who treat politics as a spectator sport.

I believe in democracy—in its indisputable achievements and its unfulfilled promise. I believe in American political institutions—in the genius inherent in their design and in the undeniable good they have done when put to their best use. I believe in the power of the human heart—in its capacity for truth and justice, love and forgiveness.

But our democratic institutions are not automated. They must be inhabited by citizens and citizen leaders who know how to hold conflict inwardly in a manner that converts it into creativity, allowing it to pull them open to new ideas, new courses of action, and each other. That kind of tension-holding is the work of the well-tempered heart: if democracy is to thrive as that restored prairie is thriving, our hearts and our institutions must work in concert.

The opioid crisis is, among other things, a parable about the awesome capability of private industry to subvert public institutions.

opioid crisis is, among other things, a parable about the awesome capability of private industry to subvert public institutions.

the Arab Spring, which has transformed Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and, as I write, shortly Syria. These transformations each demonstrate the potency of the idea of democratic institutions.

The issue is not whether people are "good enough" for a particular type of society; rather it is a matter of developing the kind of social institutions that are most conducive to expanding the potentialities we have for intelligence, grace, sociability and freedom.

I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I'm proud of it.

Things change. Time changes them. Great nations, and institutions, rethink. But only if they're great.

Boundaries aren't all bad. That's why there are walls around mental institutions.

John Kenneth Galbraith, "on the shrewd notion that people who are insecure, hungry, and without hope are not ardent defenders of liberal institutions or discriminating in the political systems they embrace.

Acting on what matters means that we will consistently find ourselves feeling like we are living on the margin of our institutions and our culture. This calls for some detachment from the mainstream.

If there is no transformation inside of us, all the structural change in the world will have impact on our institutions.

One key perspective is that to create a more positive and connected future for our communities, we must be willing to trade their problems for their possibilities. This trade is what is necessary to create a future for our cities and neighborhoods, organizations and institutions - a future that is distinct from the past.

Institutions mistake good intentions for objectives. They say health care; that's an intention, not an objective.

sauvignon blanc and turns to look out the window. "Africans can't do governments," he suddenly announces. "We are useless at it, disorganized." I close my newsmagazine and nod noncommittally. "And our institutions never work because we never pay our dues." He reaches up and presses his bell for more wine.

mental institutions, rural health clinics. Once, he met