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Governments can err, presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on different scales. Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt#41

PoliticsJusticeCharityGovernanceIndifference

About this quote

What does it mean?
A government driven by charity is better than one driven by indifference.
In plain terms
Charitable governments are better than indifferent ones.
What can you take from it?
Active concern for citizens matters more than perfection.

Where it applies

  • policy debate
  • political critique
  • leadership evaluation

Putting it to work

  • prioritize empathy
  • avoid bureaucratic indifference

Questions to consider

  • What defines a good government?
  • Is indifference worse than error?

Another view

Charity without competence can also harm citizens.

More from Franklin Delano Roosevelt

  1. We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civiliz…

    Permalink to quote #40
  2. There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rende…

    Permalink to quote #42
  3. The brave and clear platform adopted by this convention, to which I heartily subscribe, sets forth that government in a modern civilization has certain inescap…

    Permalink to quote #39

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