Quotes About Integrity

I mean, I think you've got to be truthful about the life you have. Otherwise, there's no possibility of achieving the life you want.

The spreading of the Gospel, regardless of the motives or the integrity or the heroism of some of the missionaries, was an absolutely indispensable justification for the planting of the flag.

they ain't never met nobody they didn't lie to and steal from.

Whoever debases others is debasing himself. That

Whoever debases others is debasing himself. That is not a mystical statement but a most realistic one...

What others did was their responsibility, for which they would answer when the judgment trumpet sounded. But what I did was my responsibility, and I would have to answer too

I think you've got to be truthful about the life you have. Otherwise, there's no possibility of achieving the life you want.

And I also think, if you would steal from her, then of course you would lie to me, neither of us means anything to you; perhaps, in your eyes, we are simply luckier gangsters in a world which is run by gangsters.

A liar always knows he is lying, and that is why liars travel in packs: in order to be reassured that the judgment day will never come for them. They need each other for the well-being, the health, the perpetuation of their lie.

I do not think you have ever lied to me but I know that you have never told me the truth—why?

Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. They are ambitious, to be sure, but ambitious first and foremost for the company, not themselves.

Level 5 leaders display a workmanlike diligence - more plow horse than show horse.

The point is not what core values you have, but that you have core values at all, that you know what they are, that you build them explicitly into the organization, and that you preserve them over time.

The "yes-men" problem is mentioned here. The author says that even though "yes-people" can be pleasing to a leader, they will be disastrous in the long term because they serve to obscure the real problems. The

Put objective, honest outsiders on your board of directors.

It's not how you compensate your executives, it's which executives you have to compensate in the first place. If you have the right executives on the bus, they will do everything within their power to build a great company, not because of what they will "get" for it, but because they simply cannot imagine settling for anything less. Their

businesses. We will not make unrelated acquisitions. We will not do unrelated joint ventures. If it doesn't fit, we don't do it. Period.

It takes discipline to say "No, thank you" to big opportunities.

You don't get a chance to adjust and finagle, and decide that you really didn't intend to do that anyway, and readjust your objectives to make yourself look better. You never just focus on what you've accomplished for the year; you focus on what you've accomplished relative to exactly what you said you were going to accomplish—no matter how tough the measure. That was a discipline learned at Abbott, and that we carried into Amgen.3

Even though many people think that being a great leader means being ambitious and having a certain reputation, this is not true at all.

Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy—these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. They are more like Lincoln and Socrates than Patton or Caesar.

Level 5 leaders: ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one's own riches and personal renown.

SEALs routinely risk their own lives to never leave a fellow SEAL behind, not because of anything financial, but because of a sacred promise to each other. Imagine being in a culture in which you know with 100 percent certainty—not 90 percent, not 95 percent, not 99 percent, but absolutely 100 percent—that no matter what happens, you'll never be left behind.

Level 5 leaders confront the brutal facts before they set vision and strategy, and they create a climate where the truth is heard. Failure to confront the brutal facts is a precursor to catastrophic decline, always.