Quotes about private
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Irene Dunne photo

“My private life is quiet.”

Irene Dunne (1898–1990) American actress

Irene Dunne, press http://www.irenedunnesite.com/press/

Hillary Clinton photo

“A big part of our plan will be unleashing the power of the private sector to create more jobs at higher pay. And that means for us, creating an infrastructure bank to get private funds off the sidelines and complement our private investments.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), Speech in Warren, Michigan (August 11, 2016)

Sarah Palin photo
Aisha photo
Amir Khusrow photo
Friedrich Engels photo
Pope Urban VIII photo

“In cases which concern private revelations, it is better to believe than not to believe, for, if you believe, and it is proven true, you will be happy that you have believed, because our Holy Mother asked it. If you believe, and it should be proven false, you will receive all blessings as if it had been true, because you believed it to be true.”

Pope Urban VIII (1568–1644) Pope

Pope Urban VIII on Private Revelation http://www.medjugorje.org/purban.htm (2001).
Whether or not Urban VIII said this is debated. He did make a public statement about private revelations and their dissemination in the Catholic Church in his Constitution, Sanctissimus Dominus Noster of 1625-03-13.
Misattributed quotes

Shashi Tharoor photo
Hjalmar Schacht photo
John Gay photo

“Give me, kind Heaven, a private station,
A mind serene for contemplation:
Title and profit I resign;
The post of honour shall be mine.”

John Gay (1685–1732) English poet and playwright

The Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds. Comparable to: "When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station", Joseph Addison, Cato, Act iv, scene 4
Fables (1727), Fables, Part the Second (1738)

Jane Roberts photo
Vladimir Lenin photo

“Only by abolishing private property in land and building cheap and hygienic dwellings can the housing problem be solved.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

Collected Works, Vol. 24, p. 455–480.
Collected Works

Walter Rauschenbusch photo
Peter Paul Rubens photo

“I am by nature and inclination a peaceful man, the sworn enemy to disputes, lawsuits and quarrels both public and private.”

Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) Flemish painter

In a letter to his friend Peiresc, May 1635, as quoted in 'La casa di Pietro Paolo Rubens a Roma', L'Opinione 245, 6 September, 1887
1625 - 1640

Jeffrey Montgomery photo
Mao Zedong photo

“Our agrarian revolution has been a process in which the landlord class owning the land is transformed into a class that has lost its land, while the peasants who once lost their land are transformed into small holders who have acquired land, and it will be such a process once again. In given conditions having and not having, acquiring and losing, are interconnected; there is identity of the two sides. Under socialism, private peasant ownership is transformed into the public ownership of socialist agriculture; this has already taken place in the Soviet Union, as it will take place everywhere else. There is a bridge leading from private property to public property, which in philosophy is called identity, or transformation into each other, or interpenetration.”

On Contradiction (1937)
Original: (zh-CN) 我们实行过的土地革命,已经是并且还将是这样的过程,拥有土地的地主阶级转化为失掉土地的阶级,而曾经是失掉土地的农民却转化为取得土地的小私有者。有无、得失之间,因一定条件而互相联结,二者具有同一性。在社会主义条件之下,农民的私有制又将转化为社会主义农业的公有制,苏联已经这样做了,全世界将来也会这样做。私产和公产之间有一条由此达彼的桥梁,哲学上名之曰同一性,或互相转化、互相渗透。

George W. Bush photo

“My argument is keeping taxes low will encourage the private sector to create jobs.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

2010s, 2010, Interview on Today (November 2010)

Edward Everett photo

“Though a hundred crooked paths may conduct to a temporary success, the one plain and straight path of public and private virtue can alone lead to a pure and lasting fame and the blessings of posterity.”

Edward Everett (1794–1865) American politician, orator, statesman

Edward Everett, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 352.

Enoch Powell photo

“The House of Commons is at this moment being asked to agree to the renunciation of its own independence and supreme authority—but not the House of Commons by itself. The House of Commons is the personification of the people of Britain: its independence is synonymous with their independence; its supremacy is synonymous with their self-government and freedom. Through the centuries Britain has created the House of Commons and the House of Commons has moulded Britain, until the history of the one and the life of the one cannot be separated from the history and life of the other. In no other nation in the world is there any comparable relationship. Let no one therefore allow himself to suppose that the life-and-death decision of the House of Commons is some private affair of some privileged institution which at intervals swims into his ken and out of it again. It is the life-and-death decision of Britain itself, as a free, independent and self-governing nation. For weeks, for months the battle on the floor of the House of Commons will swing backwards and forwards, through interminable hours of debates and procedures and votes in the division lobbies; and sure enough the enemies and despisers of the House of Commons will represent it all as some esoteric game or charade which means nothing for the outside world. Do not be deceived. With other weapons and in other ways the contention is as surely about the future of Britain's nationhood as were the combats which raged in the skies over southern England in the autumn of 1940. The gladiators are few; their weapons are but words; and yet the fight is everyman's.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Speech at Newton, Montgomeryshire (4 March 1972), from The Common Market: Renegotiate or Come Out (Elliot Right Way Books, 1973), pp. 57-8
1970s

George W. Bush photo
Phil Liggett photo
Michael Bloomberg photo
Bill Clinton photo
George Holmes Howison photo
Francis Escudero photo

“The government does not have the mandate to create jobs. This should be the function of the private sector but the government should provide policy support for businesses to generate permanent or long-term jobs.”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

Manila Standard Today http://manilastandardtoday.com/mobile/2013/05/10/chiz-bares-proposal-to-create-more-jobs
2013, Mid-Term Campaign Trail

Sarah Palin photo

“Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit.”

Sarah Palin (1964) American politician

[2009-12-18, Backlash boots Palin from hospital fundraising, Toronto Sun, http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2009/12/18/12204771-qmi.html]
2014

Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon photo
Edward Coke photo
John Donne photo
Paul Krugman photo
Will Eisner photo
Tom Baker photo
Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries photo
Meles Zenawi photo

“I have never heard of any convincing reason as to why we should privatize land at this stage.”

Meles Zenawi (1955–2012) Ethiopian politician; Prime Minister of Ethiopia

Part of PM Zenawi's controversial reply to Dr. Abdul Mejid Hussien, as quoted in Interview—“I have never heard of any convincing reason as to why we should privatize land”

Slavoj Žižek photo

““I hate students,” [Zizek] said, “they are (as all people) mostly stupid and boring.
In a recent interview at this year’s Zizek Conference in Ohio, Zizek talked about his personal life before delving into his thoughts on teaching. “I hate giving classes,” Zizek said, citing office hours and grading papers as his two biggest peeves. “I did teach a class here [at the University of Cincinnati] and all of the grading was pure bluff,” he continues. “I even told students at the New School for example… if you don’t give me any of your shitty papers, you get an A. If you give me a paper I may read it and not like it and you can get a lower grade.” He received no papers that semester. But it’s office hours that are the main reason he does not want to teach.
“I can’t imagine a worse experience than some idiot comes there and starts to ask you questions, which is still tolerable. The problem is that here in the United States students tend to be so open that sooner or later, if you’re kind to them, they even start to ask you personal questions [about] private problems… What should I tell them?”
“I don’t care,” he continued. “Kill yourself. It’s not my problem,””

Slavoj Žižek (1949) Slovene philosopher

As quoted by Eugene Wolters, " Professor of the Year: 'If You Don't Give Me Any of Your Shitty Papers You Get an A http://www.critical-theory.com/professor-of-the-year-if-you-dont-give-me-any-of-your-shitty-papers-you-get-an-a/'", Critical-Theory.com, May 26 2014; square brackets and lack of accent marks as in orginal

Eugene V. Debs photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Adam Smith photo
Frances Burney photo
Thomas Jefferson photo
Bill Clinton photo

“Hillary opened my eyes to a whole new world of public service by private citizens.”

Bill Clinton (1946) 42nd President of the United States

2010s, (July 26, 2016)

Václav Havel photo
Yves Klein photo
Paul A. Samuelson photo
Jonah Goldberg photo

““[Thanksgiving is] my favorite holiday, I think. It's without a doubt my favorite American Holiday. I love Christmastime, Chanuka etc. But Thanksgiving is as close as we get to a nationalist holiday in America (a country where nationalism as a concept doesn't really fit). Thanksgiving's roots are pre-founding, which means its not a political holiday in any conventional sense. We are giving thanks for the soil, the land, for the gifts of providence which were bequeathed to us long before we figured out our political system. Moreover, because there are no gifts, the holiday isn't nearly so vulnerable to materialism and commercialism. It's about things -- primarily family and private accomplishments and blessings -- that don't overlap very much with politics of any kind. We are thankful for the truly important things: our children and their health, for our friends, for the things which make life rich and joyful. As for all the stuff about killing Indians and whatnot, I can certainly understand why Indians might have some ambivalence about the holiday (though I suspect many do not). The sad -- and fortunate -- truth is that the European conquest of North America was an unremarkable old world event (one tribe defeating another tribe and taking their land; happened all the time) which ushered in a gloriously hopeful new age for humanity. America remains the last best hope for mankind. Still, I think it would be silly to deny how America came to be, but the truth makes me no less grateful that America did come to be. Also, I really, really like the food.”

Jonah Goldberg (1969) American political writer and pundit

"Thanksgiving" http://web.archive.org/web/20041126231505/http://www.nationalreview.com:80/thecorner/04_11_24_corner-archive.asp (24 November 2004), The Corner, National Review
2000s, 2004

Calvin Coolidge photo
Sandra Fluke photo
Georg Brandes photo

“What is public opinion? It is private indolence.”

Georg Brandes (1842–1927) Danish literature critic and scholar

Source: An Essay on Aristocratic Radicalism (1889), p. 9

Margaret Thatcher photo

“If a Tory does not believe that private property is one of the main bulwarks of individual freedom, then he had better become a socialist and have done with it.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Article for Daily Telegraph ("My Kind of Tory Party") (30 January 1975) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=102600
Shadow Secretary for Environment

Herbert Marcuse photo

“In conditions of private property … “life-activity” stands in the service of property instead of property standing the service of free life-activity.”

Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) German philosopher, sociologist, and political theorist

"The Foundations of Historical Materialism," Studies in Critical Philosophy (1972), p. 32

Jesse Ventura photo
Michael Moorcock photo
Peter D. Schiff photo
Eugene V. Debs photo
Ilana Mercer photo
Alexis De Tocqueville photo
Herbert Spencer photo

“Strong as it looks at the outset, State-agency perpetually disappoints every one. Puny as are its first stages, private efforts daily achieve results that astound the world.”

Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist

Vol. 3, Ch. VII, Over-Legislation
Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative (1891)

Karel Čapek photo
Irving Kristol photo
Peter Greenaway photo
Lew Rockwell photo

“In the end, what is really needed is a fundamental rethinking of the notion that the state rather than private markets must monopolize the provision of justice and security. This is the fatal conceit. No power granted to the state goes unabused. This power, among all possible powers, might be the most important one to take away from the state.”

Lew Rockwell (1944) American libertarian author and editor

As quoted in "The Police State Abolishes the Trial" http://mises.org/library/police-state-abolishes-trial, (30 September 2011), Mises Daily, The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
2010s

Zakir Hussain (musician) photo
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield photo

“Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.”

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) British statesman and man of letters

22 February 1748
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

Lew Rockwell photo
Jean-François Revel photo
William Makepeace Thackeray photo
Maithripala Sirisena photo

“Mathripala Sirisena: Let me explain the facts. First, let's look at my brother who is Chairman of the Telecom company. You have to differentiate between nepotism, and members of the family getting involved in governance. When you take the telecom institution, it's a mix of state and private sector. Importantly, it comes under a different ministry: it's an institution that comes under a different minister. My brother hasn't been involved in governance in any instance. On the other side, you mentioned my son-in-law, he has in no way been given a powerful position. He has only a minor position on my personal staff. Then you mention my son. Usually, we all know that when you go to the UN General Assembly, there are a certain number of seats allocated to each country's delegation. It's only in accordance with that allocation that government representatives from here attended. I must very clearly say: my son was not included in that number. I totally reject describing this as nepotism. Because in politics, we also need to look at people's understanding, our culture. So within these issues, we have to look at the way the government acted, before I came to power and how we act today. So I must clearly say no member of family has been involved in governance at any point.”

Maithripala Sirisena (1951) Sri Lankan politician, 7th President of Sri Lanka

Talk to Al Jazeera - Sri Lankan president: No allegations of war crimes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udGmG-eqJ6o

Charles Edward Merriam photo

“It is not necessary to conclude that the managerial groups have assumed complete domination over the concerns in which they are found, although this may be the fact in various instances, but only to reckon with the undoubted truth that the managerial factor in public and private enterprise has taken on a far more significant role than before.
This new role which has puzzled and alarmed the "owners" in industry and the policy-makers in government is not, however, primarily a power role, but a specialization of the evolving and complex character which we now confront in our civilization.
We may, of course, always raise the question-not in point of fact always raised-of what the relation of these managers is to the t! nds of the state or the ends of other groups and to the special techniques of the particular group and to its special social composition. In the complex power pattern of organization how are these managerial element-related to the organization of the consent of the governed, so vital a force in the life of every form of human association? In the struggle for advantage and mastery these larger factors may, indeed, pass unnoticed, but from the point of view of the student of politics and government, they are of supreme importance in judging the trends and possibilities of managerial evolution in modem society.”

Charles Edward Merriam (1874–1953) American political scientist

Source: Systematic Politics, 1943, p. 163-4 ; as cited in Albert Lepawsky (1949), Administration, p. 15-16

Richard Pipes photo
Herbert Marcuse photo
Tammy Smith photo

“While the [Dept. of Defense] position is that orientation is a private matter, participating with family in traditional ceremonies such as the promotion is both common and expected of a leader. Looking at the photos of Tracey's joy as she pins the star on my shoulder is a memory that will imprint my heart forever. Her support keeps me Army Strong.”

Tammy Smith (1963) United States Army officer

Quoted on Yahoo News, "Meet Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith, the first openly gay U.S. general" http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/meet-brig-gen-tammy-smith-us-first-openly-211521611.html, August 13, 2012.

Carl Schmitt photo
Alan Moore photo
George W. Bush photo
Rupert Boneham photo
Max von Laue photo
Robert A. Dahl photo
Adam Gopnik photo
Thomas Dekker photo