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Top 25 James Q. Wilson Quotes (2025 Update)

James Q. Wilson Quote: “One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.”

1. “One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Public order is a fragile thing, and if you don’t fix the first broken window, soon all the windows will be broken.”

2. “Public order is a fragile thing, and if you don’t fix the first broken window, soon all the windows will be broken.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Community-based policing has now come to mean everything. It’s a slogan. It has come to mean so many different things that people who endorse it, such as the Congress of the United States, do not know what they are talking about.”

3. “Community-based policing has now come to mean everything. It’s a slogan. It has come to mean so many different things that people who endorse it, such as the Congress of the United States, do not know what they are talking about.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “The great achievement of Western culture since the Enlightenment is to make many of us peer over the wall and grant some respect to people outside it; the great failure of Western Culture is to deny that walls are inevitable or important.”

4. “The great achievement of Western culture since the Enlightenment is to make many of us peer over the wall and grant some respect to people outside it; the great failure of Western Culture is to deny that walls are inevitable or important.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character.”

5. “Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Four innate sentiments dispose people to a universal moral sense. These are sympathy, fairness, self-control and duty.”

6. “Four innate sentiments dispose people to a universal moral sense. These are sympathy, fairness, self-control and duty.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.”

7. “In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “But no one has yet succeeded in reducing the size or scope of the federal government.”

8. “But no one has yet succeeded in reducing the size or scope of the federal government.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “There aren’t any liberals left in New York. They’ve all been mugged by now.”

9. “There aren’t any liberals left in New York. They’ve all been mugged by now.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Mankind’s moral sense is not a strong beacon light, radiating outward to illuminate in sharp outline all that it touches. It is, rather, a small candle flame, casting vague and multiple shadows, flickering and sputtering in the strong winds of power and passion, greed and ideology. But brought close to the heart and cupped in one’s hands, it dispels the darkness and warms the soul.”

10. “Mankind’s moral sense is not a strong beacon light, radiating outward to illuminate in sharp outline all that it touches. It is, rather, a small candle flame, casting vague and multiple shadows, flickering and sputtering in the strong winds of power and passion, greed and ideology. But brought close to the heart and cupped in one’s hands, it dispels the darkness and warms the soul.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “The most remarkable change in the moral history of mankind has been the rise – and occasionally the application – of the view that all people, and not just one’s own kind, are entitled to fair treatment.”

11. “The most remarkable change in the moral history of mankind has been the rise – and occasionally the application – of the view that all people, and not just one’s own kind, are entitled to fair treatment.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Arresting a single drunk or a single vagrant who has harmed no identifiable person seems unjust, and in a sense it is. But failing to do anything about a score of drunks or a hundred vagrants may destroy an entire community.”

12. “Arresting a single drunk or a single vagrant who has harmed no identifiable person seems unjust, and in a sense it is. But failing to do anything about a score of drunks or a hundred vagrants may destroy an entire community.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.”

13. “Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Some people suggest that the problem is the separation of powers. If you had a parliamentary system, the struggle for power would not result in such complex peace treaties that empower so many different people to pursue so many contradictory aims.”

14. “Some people suggest that the problem is the separation of powers. If you had a parliamentary system, the struggle for power would not result in such complex peace treaties that empower so many different people to pursue so many contradictory aims.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Boys are more likely to develop a masculine personality and acquire strong moral standards when they have a loving and nurturant rather than a threatening or fear-inspiring father.”

15. “Boys are more likely to develop a masculine personality and acquire strong moral standards when they have a loving and nurturant rather than a threatening or fear-inspiring father.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “I will have an administrative system where there is no way to extricate red tape.”

16. “I will have an administrative system where there is no way to extricate red tape.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “I mean that the function of the police is to solve problems that have law-enforcement consequences in a way that is based on a genuine partnership with the neighborhood in both the venting of the problem and the discussion of the solution.”

17. “I mean that the function of the police is to solve problems that have law-enforcement consequences in a way that is based on a genuine partnership with the neighborhood in both the venting of the problem and the discussion of the solution.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “I believe we ought to subsidize some health care for the poor, but Medicare subsidizes everyone’s health care.”

18. “I believe we ought to subsidize some health care for the poor, but Medicare subsidizes everyone’s health care.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “There is no way the American public will sit still for the banning of or putting any significant restrictions on the kinds of guns they want.”

19. “There is no way the American public will sit still for the banning of or putting any significant restrictions on the kinds of guns they want.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “What most needs explanation is not why some people are criminals, but why most people are not.”

20. “What most needs explanation is not why some people are criminals, but why most people are not.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “It’s no surprise that academics in this country have been generally suspicious of business or that in a time like this, when general public confidence in the corporation has fallen, the expressions of hostility grow sharper.”

21. “It’s no surprise that academics in this country have been generally suspicious of business or that in a time like this, when general public confidence in the corporation has fallen, the expressions of hostility grow sharper.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “Character is not the enemy of self-expression and personal freedom, it is their necessary precondition.”

22. “Character is not the enemy of self-expression and personal freedom, it is their necessary precondition.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “A particular rule that seems to make sense in the individual case makes no sense when it is made a universal rule and applied to all cases. It makes no sense because it fails to take into account the connection between one broken window left untended and a thousand broken windows.”

23. “A particular rule that seems to make sense in the individual case makes no sense when it is made a universal rule and applied to all cases. It makes no sense because it fails to take into account the connection between one broken window left untended and a thousand broken windows.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “If the moral senses can conflict with one another and with what prudent action requires under particular circumstances, then living a good life requires striking a delicate balance among those senses and between them and prudent self-interest.”

24. “If the moral senses can conflict with one another and with what prudent action requires under particular circumstances, then living a good life requires striking a delicate balance among those senses and between them and prudent self-interest.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “A government without the power of defense! It is a solecism.”

25. “A government without the power of defense! It is a solecism.”

— James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson Quote: “In terms of other functions, we are making a mistake about insisting on a public school monopoly.”

26. “In terms of other functions, we are making a mistake about insisting on a public school monopoly.”

— James Q. Wilson

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