Daniel Patrick Moynihan

“The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.”

“The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare.”

“If the newspapers of a country are filled with good news, the jails of that country will be filled with good people.”

“Secrecy is for losers.”

“To be a conservative, you have to have something to conserve.”

“No one is innocent in the tide of history. Everyone has kings and slaves in his past.”

“The life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its citizens.”

“Poverty is not a discipline. It is a calamity.”

“Am I embarrassed to speak for a less than perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one.”

“You don't have to be a majority to be right.”

“We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of immigrants. We are in fact the only nation of immigrants.”

“The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.”

“If the newspapers of a country are filled with good news, the jails of that country will be filled with good people.”

“To be an Irishman is to know that in the end the world will break your heart.”

“The issue of race could benefit from a period of 'benign neglect'.”

“Secrecy is a form of government regulation.”

“Of all the nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody's image.”

“Am I embarrassed to speak for a less than perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one.”

“Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government.”

“You are not going to be able to have a civil society without a civil government.”