Quotes About Principle

Commodore Stephen Decatur. And he said, 'My country, may she always be right—but my country, right or wrong.

Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.

Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle.

Woe to him who seeks to please rather than to appal! Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness! Woe to him who, in this world, courts not dishonor! Woe to him who would not be true, even though to be false were salvation! Yea, woe to him who as the great Pilot Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself a castaway!

My every impulse bends to what is right

My soul abhors a falsehood

We might suspect that this attempt to balance the books through reciprocity was just the product of civilized parenting … if it weren't for the fact that every society that's been studied, no matter how advanced or primitive, has a principle of give and take.

Before God and high heaven, is there a law for one man which is not a law for every other man?

If there are necessary sacrifices to be made for human progress, is it not essential to hold to the principle that those to be sacrificed must make the decision themselves? We can all decide to give up something of ours, but do we have the right to throw into the pyre the children of others, or even our own children, for a progress which is not nearly as clear or present as sickness or health, life or death?

I ain't gonna kill; it's against my will. . . .

It was the puritan in him that couldn't take it.

Oblivion seemed the only reasonable option.

I always tell young people to hold on to their dreams. And sometimes you have to stand up for what you think is right even if you have to stand alone.

Over the years, I had something in principle against autobiographical writing altogether because memory plays tricks on us, and we also tend to reinvent ourselves. But there comes an age when one begins to observe life, and there are things that need time to mature, also in terms of literary form.

I have always tried my best to do what I thought was the right thing at the time.

If I am treated fairly, I like to do things in a fair manner. That is the way I have been all my career. I haven't tried to do things in an underhanded way.

I would rather lose in a cause that I know some day will triumph than to triumph in a cause that I know some day will fail.

To live for a principle, for the triumph of some reform by which all mankind are to be lifted up to be wedded to an idea may be, after all, the holiest and happiest of marriages.

Whether it's trivial or important, every choice has a moral aspect to it to a certain degree.

Honesty is a foundation, and it's usually a solid foundation. Even if I do get in trouble for what I said, it's something that I can stand on.

Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.

I support liberty; I support true freedom.

One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.

I am not ashamed to support Donald Trump.