William Bennett Quotes - Page 2

The formation of character in young people is educationally a different task from, and a prior task to, the discussion of the great, difficult, ethical controversies of the day. First things first. And planting the ideas of virtue, of good traits in the young, comes first. In the moral life, as in life itself, we take one step at a time. Every field has its complexities and controversies. And so does ethics. And every field has its basics. So too with values.

The new source of divisiveness is the assault of secularism on religion.

True courage is mixed with circumspection, the kind of healthy skepticism that asks, 'Is this the best way to do this?' True cowardice is marked by chronic skepticism, which always says, 'It can't be done.'

The history of our nation is intertwined with a certain religious tradition, and that the First Amendment was not intended to result in the complete exclusion of religious beliefs from our public classrooms.

It is ironic that anyone who appeals to religious values today runs the risk of being called 'divisive' or attacked as an enemy of pluralism.

Nothing in recent years, on television or anywhere else, has improved on a good story that begins "Once upon a time..."

When you have an individual that is committed to killing someone else, you can`t expect a restraining order or the police to provide 24-hour protection.

From Samuel Adams to Patrick Henry to Benjamin Franklin to Alexander Hamilton, all the Founders intended religion to provide a moral anchor for our liberty in democracy.

Too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing...[We] need ...to set definite boundaries on our appetites.

A weakened sense of responsibility does not weaken the fact of responsibility.

I can only speak about my own commute and can say that it has certainly affected my commute, making it longer and more hectic.

What you've got here is really a case of journalists making fun of people who believe in God and the devil.

America's only respectable form of bigotry is bigotry against religious people. And the only reason for hatred of religion is that it forces us to confront matters many would prefer to ignore.

In the battle for preserving sound social and moral norms, many religious institutions can no longer be counted as allies.

The formation of character in young people is educationally a different task from and a prior task to, the discussion of the great, difficult ethical controversies of the day.

President Bush was widely ridiculed for consulting the Reverend Billy Graham before the Gulf war.

America's support for human rights and democracy is our noblest export to the world.

A City University of New York study done in 1991 revealed that nearly 90% of the American people identify themselves religiously as Christians or Jews, while only 7.5 percent claim no religion.

The elementary school must assume as its sublime and most solemn responsibility the task of teaching every child in it to read. Any school that does not accomplish this has failed.

Have we come to the point where it is now considered a secular blasphemy to acknowledge the name of God at all?

The secretary of education does not work for the education establishment. The secretary works for the American people.