Quotes about transparency
page 3

“Business is much less transparent than a win in a Grand Prix; in a race you drive over the finishing line first and you have won. In business it is different.”

Niki Lauda (1949–2019) Austrian former Formula 1 racing driver

Business

“While it is easy to take the microphone away from a journalist, especially in Bulgaria, many questions will eventually catch up with the new commission president. For instance: what is the price of the rule of law in the EU?; how does her team gather country information?; how much does she value transparency?; is she worried about the misuse of EU funds?; is prosperity a new EU synonym for poverty in Brussels?”

Radosveta Vassileva (1985) legal scholar

Why did von der Leyen endorse bad politics?," https://euobserver.com/opinion/145798", the EUobserver (September 2, 2019)

Question, Law, Country

“This is not the problem. The problem is that this part of society is aggressively imposing their view on the majority. We have to be more loyal to each other, more open and transparent… We have to respect everyone, that is true, but we must not impose our points of view on others. Meanwhile, representatives of the so-called liberal idea are simply forcing their ideas on others. They dictate the need for the so-called sex education. Parents are against it…”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

Source: Vladimir Putin’s news conference, Transcript, Kremlin.ru, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/60857 (29 June 2019)

Problem, Sex, Parent, Education

“We go in and try to be completely transparent with them: I am not a journalist, I’m a playwright, and I’m developing a piece that is creative and not going to be solely based on their lives but inspired by conversations that we have.”

Lynn Nottage (1964) American playwright

On how the interview process is different when writing a work of fiction in “An Interview with Lynn Nottage” https://www.theintervalny.com/interviews/2015/10/an-interview-with-lynn-nottage/ in The Interval (2015 Oct 14)

“It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry.”

Carl Sagan book Broca's Brain

Source: Broca's Brain (1979), Chapter 23, “A Sunday Sermon” (pp. 332-333)

Intelligence, Religion, Making love

“The blockchain is all about bringing in transparency and efficiency into the existing systems which are running the upstream and downstream supply chains and making them more proactive and predictive.”

Rahul Guhathakurta Indian consultant

In his book, The Age of Blockchain: A Collection of Articles, as quoted in factbox on blockchain http://news.upu.int/no_cache/nd/factbox-on-blockchain/, Universal Postal Union on August 2, 2018.

Making love

“Genl. Smuts and his followers, without any hesitation, laid all their much-celebrated quest for reconciliation and the creation of one nation of Afrikaans and English speakers on the altar of the British Empire. It is clear that their aim was not to create a truly South African people/volk, but a branch of the English people living in South Africa. And in it Afrikanerdom had to be dissolved. This war crisis was necessary to make that transparent to everyone.”

Hendrik Verwoerd (1901–1966) Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966

War, Making love, People

“Spinoza is a highly systematic thinker, but still I do not think I can offer a single key for all things Spinozistic. Personally, one thing which got me excited about Spinoza is his philosophical boldness, i. e., his willingness to pursue philosophical exploration as far as he can, making very little concessions to commonly accepted beliefs and norms. In terms of content, I take his attempt to conceive of God, nature, and ethics in a manner that is free from anthropomorphism and anthropocentric illusions as one of the deepest elements of his philosophical thinking. A closely related issue is his advocacy of actual infinity (an issue that has been mostly neglected in recent literature). Finally, the very attempt to do philosophy systematically (rather than rely on fragmented and disassociated intuitions) and transparently (laying bare the logical structure of his arguments) commands my respect, indeed admiration.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Spinoza's Metaphysics and His Relationship to Hegel and the German Idealists, an interview by Richard Marshall (3:AM Magazine, 30 December 2017) https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/spinozas-metaphysics-relationship-hegel-german-idealists/ <br class="br">M - R

God, Personality, Nature, Thinking

“To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves; let us be above such transparent egotism. If you can't say good and encouraging things, say nothing. Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.”

Will Durant (1885–1981) American historian, philosopher and writer

We Have a Right To Be Happy Today https://web.archive.org/web/20130106111821/http://www.willdurant.com/youth.htm, commencement address at the Webb School of Claremont, California (7 June 1958)

Way

“The theory of transparency was set up in reaction to the theory of mental images, of an inner tableu which the perception of an object would leave in us. In imagination our gaze always goes outward, but imagination modifies and neutralizes the gaze: the real world appears in it as it were between parenthesis or quote marks.”

Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995) French philosopher

The Levinas reader by Levinas, Emmanuel p. 134

World, Appearance, Imagination, Quotes

“One of the canons of the futuristic painters, as propounded by Modigliani, was that objects behind other objects should not be lost to view, but should be shown through the others by making the latter transparent. The wire sculpture accomplishes this in a most decided manner.”

Alexander Calder (1898–1976) American artist

1920s, Excerpt, Statement on Wire Sculpture (1929)

Making love

“Let me be absolutely clear: in terms of potential deaths and the impact on our economy, the crisis we face from coronavirus is on the scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly. Nobody knows how many fatalities we may see, but they could equal or surpass the U.S. casualties we saw in World War II. It is an absolute moral imperative that our response -- as a government, as a society, as business communities, and as individuals -- meets the enormity of this crisis... If our neighbor or co-worker gets sick, we have the potential to get sick. If our neighbors lose their jobs, then our local economies suffer, and we may lose our jobs. If doctors and nurses do not have the equipment and staffing capacity they need now, people we know and love may die. The American people deserve transparency... We need daily information -- clear, science-based information -- from credible scientific voices, not politicians.”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

2020

Science, Death, Business, War

“There is (currently) indeed a shortage of surgical masks (in New Taipei due to COVID-19 outbreak). There is a lack of transparency on information about mask manufacturers and distribution. The (Republic of China) central government should clearly tell people how many masks each person can purchase.”

Hou You-yi (1957) Taiwanese politician

Hou You-yi (2020) cited in " Virus Outbreak: NHI cards required to purchase masks http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/02/04/2003730320" on Taipei Times, 4 February 2020.

Personality, People

“While my actions were meant with the best of intentions, my actions also fell below the standards of transparency and openness that I have promoted and advocated. I offer a fulsome apology to you and to the government for what has happened and offer my resignation.”

Priti Patel (1972) British politician

Said in her resignation letter to Theresa May in November 2017 after she had unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials while Secretary of State for International Development. Priti Patel quits cabinet over Israel meetings row https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41923007 (8 November 2017) <br class="br">2017

“October passed, and there was no change inside the cubicle; except that the woman only became paler and more lifeless. Until finally the time came when she became transparent; she underwent that transformation, that transguration of countenance that sometimes comes to sufferers when the last of their strength ebbs away.”

Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) Icelandic author

Brekkukotsannáll (The Fish Can Sing) (1957)

Time, Suffering, Change

“Secrecy is the linchpin of abuse of power, we discovered, its enabling force. Transparency is the only antidote.”

Glenn Greenwald book No Place to Hide

Picador 2015 edition, p. 12
No Place to Hide (2014)

“Nothing is more vital than enabling true transparency and adversarial journalism, and preventing further assaults on them.”

Glenn Greenwald (1967) American journalist, lawyer and writer

"New press freedom group is launched to block US government attacks" (17 December 2012)

“I have a line in the last book about how to draw an invisible man, and it says, “I’m trying to be transparent.” I don’t actually want to be invisible, which is the dilemma of people of color, but I would like to be transparent, so people can see what my issues are, good and bad. I just try to be transparent and very present, and then see what happens.”

Terrance Hayes (1971) American poet

On seeking transparency in “Terrance Hayes on Shakespeare, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and What Makes a Good MFA” https://lithub.com/terrance-hayes-on-shakespeare-ol-dirty-bastard-and-what-makes-a-good-mfa/ in Lit Hub (2018 May 9)

Drawing, Bad luck, People, Books

“China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Cited by * 2020-01-24
Trump Is Inciting a Coronavirus Culture War to Save Himself
Adam Serwer
The Atlantic
2020s, 2020, January
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/trump-is-the-chinese-governments-most-useful-idiot/608638/

Effort

“The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal - not illegal - vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.”

Melania Trump (1970) Slovenian model, wife of Donald Trump and First Lady of the United States

via tweet https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1325509832594616328 On November 8, 2020 <br class="br">2020

Democracy, People

“The eye of the soul cannot be led astray when its veil, by which I mean the body, is refined to near-transparency through self-control.”

Diadochos of Photiki (400–486) Byzantine saint

§ 71
On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination (480 AD)

Self-confidence, Soul

“Being a person who constantly tells the truth means being a simple, free, true, concrete and transparent person. Also, it means being a person who makes his life easier.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Essere una persona che racconta costantemente la verità significa essere una persona semplice, libera, vera, concreta e trasparente. Inoltre, significa essere una persona che si semplifica la vita.
Source: prevale.net

Personality, Truth, Life

“I want to make the country a favourable place to do business and an attractive place in which to invest by reforming the markets and systems in a fair and transparent manner based on international standards.”

Roh Moo-hyun (1946–2009) 9th President of the Republic of Korea

Excerpts from inaugural address (25 February 2003)

Country, Business

“We are fighting to make sure that no country, neither today nor tomorrow, is denied funding based on an arbitrary and non-transparent mechanism. This is a matter of fundamental trust on which the European law is based.”

Mateusz Morawiecki (1968) Prime Minister of Poland

"In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine" https://www.gov.pl/web/iceland/interview-with-polish-prime-minister-mateusz-morawiecki-in-frankfurter-allgemeine (3 December 2020)

Law, Country, Fight

“If we do not have rule of law and effective and transparent judiciary, everything else will start crumbling down.”

Ana Brnabić (1975) Prime Minister of Serbia

Source: "Ana Brnabić: 'I do not want to be branded Serbia's gay PM'" in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/28/ana-brnabic-serbia-prime-minister-interview (28 July 2017)

Law

“Transparent people always stand out: they are terribly sincere.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Le persone trasparenti si distinguono sempre: sono terribilmente sincere.
Source: prevale.net

People, Sincerity

“Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Source: https://www.facebook.com/100044605381690/posts/512632483566927/?d=n

Truth

“Leadership is about authenticity and transparency. And being there. Being there as much as you can. There's a fearlessness to it."”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: Jonathan Bailey is Redefining the Hollywood Heartthrob" on TIMEs Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oitewpYmQdY&ab_channel=TIME (13 May 2022)

“I think Christian comedy has gotten a bad rap in the past because it's very passive, and it's not honest. It's like knock-knock jokes type humor. What we're bringing to the table is another level of honesty, and maybe transparency that I think does make some people uncomfortable.”

John Crist (comedian) (1984) American comedian

[Paulson, Dave, John Crist: A Christian comedian who's gently poking fun at faith, https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2019/04/11/john-crist-christian-comedian-nashville-comedy-festival-ryman-auditorium/3215394002/, 6 September 2019, The Tennessean, April 11, 2019, en]

People, Past, Thinking

“One of the rarest and most prestigious qualities of a person is his transparency.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Una delle qualità più rare e prestigiose di una persona è la sua trasparenza.
Source: prevale.net

Personality

“In a world of false appearances, be rare: transparent, honest, true and sincere.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: In un mondo di false apparenze, siate rari: trasparenti, onesti, veri e sinceri.
Source: prevale.net

Falseness, Appearance, Sincerity, World

“The beauty of special people is the consistency and transparency of own being.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La bellezza delle persone speciali è coerenza e trasparenza del proprio essere.
Source: prevale.net

Beauty, People

“Sincerity is often mistaken for arrogance, but in its purest form it's a virtue of transparency.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La sincerità viene spesso scambiata per arroganza, ma nella sua forma più pura è una virtù di trasparenza.
Source: prevale.net

Sincerity

Quotes about transparency page 3

Quotes about transparency
page 3