In the morning
‘Abdu'l-Bahá spoke about the election of the president of the republic. He
[‘Abdu’l-Baha] said:
The president must
be a man who does not insistently seek the presidency. He should be a person
free from all thoughts of name and rank; rather, he should say, `I am unworthy
and incapable of this position and cannot bear this great burden.' Such persons
deserve the presidency. If the object is to promote the public good, then the
president must be a well-wisher of all and not a self-seeking person. If the
object, however, is to promote personal interests, then such a position will be
injurious to humanity and not beneficial to the public.
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha,
From a talk at San Francisco’s Jewish Temple, October 14, 1912, Pleasanton,
California, USA, recorded by Mahmud Zarqani; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)
