"...it is one thing to say that the relief of poverty and suffering is a duty
and quite another to say that this duty can always be most efficiently and humanely performed by the State. Indeed, there are grave moral dangers and serious practical ones in letting people get away with the idea that they can delegate all their responsibilities to public officials and institutions.
...Once you give poeple the idea that all tis can be done by the state, and that it is somehow second-best or even degrading to leave it to private people - it is sometimes refered to as 'cold charity' - then you will beginto deprive human beings of one of the essential ingredients of humanity: personal moral responsibility.
...If you allow people to hand over to the State all their personal responsibility, the time will come—indeed it is close at hand—when what the taxpayer is willing to provide for the good of humanity will be seen to be far less than what the individual used to be willing to give from love of his neighbour. So do not be tempted to identify virtue with collectivism. I wonder whether the State services would have done as much for the man who fell among thieves as the Good Samaritan did for him?
...the role of the state in Christian Society is to encourage virtue, not to usurp it."
...If you allow people to hand over to the State all their personal responsibility, the time will come—indeed it is close at hand—when what the taxpayer is willing to provide for the good of humanity will be seen to be far less than what the individual used to be willing to give from love of his neighbour. So do not be tempted to identify virtue with collectivism. I wonder whether the State services would have done as much for the man who fell among thieves as the Good Samaritan did for him?
...the role of the state in Christian Society is to encourage virtue, not to usurp it."
PS And here is the infamous and misrepresented line, in full context: "There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people, and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves, and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate."
(From now on if someone uses the 'no society' quote against that brave, generous and wise woman, I'll punch,or at least insult, them.)
