Citizen participation is a device whereby public officials induce nonpublic individuals to act in a way the officials desire. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The liberal left can be as rigid and destructive as any force in American life. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The steady expansion of welfare programs can be taken as a measure of the steady disintegration of the Negro family structure over the past generation in the United States. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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 agencies to do good. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it’s so rare. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The great corporations of this country were not founded by ordinary people. They were founded by people with extraordinary intelligence, ambition, and aggressiveness. – 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. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
