“Always be the servant of the people.”

"Rules of Discipline," Rule #15
Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare (1968)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Always be the servant of the people." by Kwame Nkrumah?
Kwame Nkrumah photo
Kwame Nkrumah 26
Pan Africanist and First Prime Minister and President of Gh… 1909–1972

Related quotes

Albert Camus photo

“The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”

"Homage to an Exile", published as an essay in Actuelles III, originally a speech "delivered 7 December 1955 at a banquet in honor of President Eduardo Santos, editor of El Tiempo, driven out of Colombia by the dictatorship".
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (1960)
Context: The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience. It would be easy, however, to destroy that good conscience by shouting to them: if you want the happiness of the people, let them speak out and tell what kind of happiness they want and what kind they don't want! But, in truth, the very ones who make use of such alibis know they are lies; they leave to their intellectuals on duty the chore of believing in them and of proving that religion, patriotism, and justice need for their survival the sacrifice of freedom.

Grover Cleveland photo

“Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.”

Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) 22nd and 24th president of the United States

Letter accepting the nomination for governor of New York (October 1882).

Evgeny Kissin photo

“Here lies Evgeny Kissin, son of the Jewish people, a servant of music.”

Evgeny Kissin (1971) Russian classical pianist

Suggested epitaph, given in The Economist, July 8th 2017, page 73

Abraham Lincoln photo

“The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1860s, Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)
Context: It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the duty of employing the war power in defense of the Government forced upon him. He could but perform this duty or surrender the existence of the Government. No compromise by public servants could in this case be a cure; not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular government can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry an election can only save the government from immediate destruction by giving up the main point upon which the people gave the election. The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions.

Francis Bacon photo
Edna St. Vincent Millay photo

“The only people I really hate are servants. They are not really human beings at all.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Context: The only people I really hate are servants. They are not really human beings at all. As attributed without citation in At Home by Bill Bryson, Chapter V, "The Scullery and the Larder" p. 111

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. photo
Teresa of Ávila photo

“Always think of yourself as everyone's servant; look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint

Maxim 25, p. 257
Maxims for Her Nuns (1963)

Ulysses S. Grant photo

“Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence.”

Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) 18th President of the United States

1870s, Speech to the Society of the Army of Tennessee (1875)
Context: Let us then begin by guarding against every enemy threatening the perpetuity of free republican institutions. I do not bring into this assemblage politics, certainly not partisan politics; but it is a fair subject for soldiers in their deliberations to consider what may be necessary to secure the prize for which they battled in a republic like ours. Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence.

Agatha Christie photo

Related topics