Quotes About Accountability

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today.

No man is above the law, and no man is below it.

I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds.

If there is one tendency of the day which more than any other is unhealthy and undesirable, it is the tendency to deify mere "smartness," unaccompanied by a sense of moral accountability. We shall never make our republic what it should be until as a people we thoroughly understand and put in practice the doctrine that success is abhorrent if attained by the sacrifice of the fundamental principles of morality.

We must hold to a rigid accountability those public servants who show unfaithfulness to the interests of the nation or inability to rise to the high level of the new demands upon our strength and our resources.

In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The second best thing is the wrong thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

The power of the journalist is great, but he is entitled neither to respect nor admiration because of that power unless it is used aright.

Let these innocent people be careful not to invest in corporations where those in control are not men of probity, men who respect the laws; above all let them avoid the men who make it their one effort to evade or defy the laws.

It is inexcusable to refuse to work, to work slackly or perversely, or to mar the work of others.

There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck-rake.

Just as democratic government cannot be condemned because of errors and even crimes committed by men democratically elected, so trade-unionism must not be condemned because of errors or crimes of occasional trade-union leaders.

In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.

To sit home, read one's favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men's doing.

The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight.

I can never afford to be in arrears with anything that I have to do; I must always be abreast or ahead of my tasks.

The only way to get good service is to give somebody power to render it, facing the fact that power which will enable a man to do a job well will also necessarily enable him to do it ill if he is the wrong kind of man.

the average cannot be kept high unless the standard of the leaders is very much higher.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.