Quotes by Ralph Nader

• The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.
• The corporate lobby in Washington is basically designed to stifle all legislative activity on behalf of consumers.
• The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
• The liberal intelligentsia has allowed its party to become a captive of corporate interests.
• The networks are not some chicken-coop manufacturing lobby whose calls nobody returns.
• The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That's the only difference.
• Sanctions against polluters are feeble and out of date, and are rarely invoked.
• There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship.
• This (George W. Bush's) administration is not sympathetic to corporations, it is indentured to corporations.
• This country has far more problems than it deserves and far more solutions than it applies.
• Turn on to politics, or politics will turn on you.
• When strangers start acting like neighbors... communities are reinvigorated.
• President Reagan was elected on the promise of getting government off the backs of the people and now he demands that government wrap itself around the waists of the people.
• Like sex in Victorian England, the reality of Big Business today is our big dirty secret.
• Your best teacher is your last mistake.
• I don't think meals have any business being deductible. I'm for separation of calories and corporations.
• Power has to be insecure to be responsive.
• A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
• Addiction should never be treated as a crime. It has to be treated as a health problem. We do not send alcoholics to jail in this country. Over 500,000 people are in our jails who are nonviolent drug users.
• For almost seventy years the life insurance industry has been a smug sacred cow feeding the public a steady line of sacred bull.
• I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
• John D. Rockefeller wanted to dominate oil, but Microsoft wants it all, you name it: cable, media, banking, car dealerships.
• Let's not just look at it as taking votes away from Gore. Our support comes from a lot of people.
• Once you don't vote your ideals... that has serious undermining affects. It erodes the moral basis of our democracy.
• No presidential candidate should visit Las Vegas without condemning organized gambling.
• A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.
• Our founders did not oust George III in order for us to crown Richard I.
• People are stunned to hear that one company has data files on 185 million Americans.
• Every time I see something terrible, it's like I see it at age 19. I keep a freshness that way.
• Dream big and dare to fail, for in failure lies the key to success.
• Success is not just what you accomplish in your life; it’s about what you inspire others to do.