Famous Quotes on Citizenship and Well-Being

Citizenship benefits well-being when citizens use their privileges well. Research shows that young citizens who take positive action for the greater good can increase well-being in society through their contributions. Let these famous quotes on citizenship and well-being motivate you to become a positive change agent in our society:

“Strengthening our identity is one way or reinforcing people’s confidence and sense of citizenship and well-being.” –  David Blunkett

“The American ideal is not that we all agree with each other, or even like each other, every minute of the day. It is rather that we will respect each other’s rights, especially the right to be different, and that, at the end of the day, we will understand that we are one people, one country, and one community, and that our well-being is inextricably bound up with the well-being of each and every one of our fellow citizens.” – C. Everett Koop

“The most important thing an institution does is not to prepare a student for a career but for a life as a citizen.” – Frank Newman

“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” –  Margaret Mead

“I honestly feel like it’s our responsibility as citizens of the world to ground ourselves in selflessness and all do our part.” – Solange Knowles

“Citizenship comes first today in our crowded world. No man can enjoy the privileges of education and thereafter with a clear conscience break his contract with society. To respect that contract is to be mature, to strengthen it is to be a good citizen, to do more than your share under it is noble.” –  Isaiah Bowman

“Citizenship is the chance to make a difference to the place where you belong.” – Charles Handy

“No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline.” – Kofi Annan

“The old emphasis upon superficial differences that separate peoples must give way to education for citizenship in the human community.” – Norman Cousins

“The best principles of our republic secure to all its citizens a perfect equality of rights.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Education is the process by which the individual relates himself to the universe, give himself citizenship in the changing world, shares the race’s mind and enfranchises his own soul.” – John Finley

“Active citizenship begins with an envisioning of the desired outcome and a conscious application of spiritual principles.” – Dennis Kucinich

“Citizenship is an attitude, a state of mind, an emotional conviction that the whole is greater than the part and that the part should be humbly proud to sacrifice itself that the whole may live.” –  Robert A. Heinlein

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

“We are citizens of the world. The tragedy of our times is that we do not know this.” – Woodrow Wilson

“… we all have an obligation as citizens of this earth to leave the world a healthier, cleaner, and better place for our children and future generations.” – Blythe Danner

“A generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit the community is a generation that is not learning what it means to be citizens in a democracy.” – Elizabeth L. Hollander

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy

“Ensuring the access of all citizens to government information and to essential information for human development is a must for every democratic society.” – Koïchiro Matsuura

“I remind myself of the power of thought and how it’s my obligation as a citizen (and student) of humanity to propel compassion.” – Alyssa Milano

“As global citizens, it is our responsibility to become active participants in our democracy, and to make sure that everyone’s civil rights are protected.” – Robert Alan Silverstein

“Our true nationality is humankind.” – H.G. Wells

“The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions: Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinion? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up, trusting our fellow citizens to join us in our determined pursuit – a living democracy?” – Terry Tempest Williams

“We need to become good citizens in the global village, instead of competing. What are we competing for – to drive more cars, eat more steaks? That will destroy the world.” – Yuan Lee

“What do I owe to my times, to my country, to my neighbors, to my friends? Such are the questions which a virtuous man ought often to ask himself.” – Johann Lavater

“We have created a society where individual rights and freedoms, compassion and diversity are core to our citizenship.” – Justin Trudeau

“A passive and ignorant citizenry will never create a sustainable world.” – Andrew Gaines

“No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.” – Nelson Mandela

“Religion creates community, community creates altruism and altruism turns us away from self and toward the common good. … There is something about the tenor of relationships within a religious community that makes it the best tutorial in citizenship and good neighborliness.” – Jonathan Sacks

“Every good citizen adds to the strength of a nation.” – Gordon Hinckley

“Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace.” – Vaclav Havel

“As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved – it’s the citizen who changes things.” – Jose Saramago

“We should never take the privilege of our citizenship for granted.” – Jane D. Hull