Quotes About Principles

But emotions and detective work did not always mix; there was something about that in Clovis Andersen's The Principles of Private Detection. What had he said? Emotions have the same effect as a magnet has on a compass…Yes, that was it. The needle swings around in a confusing way and you lose direction.

Von Igelfeld wondered whether there was a moral obligation to read a letter. Surely the moral principles involved were the same as those which applied when somebody addressed a remark to one. One does not have to answer; but inevitably does.

The problem was, of course, that people did not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They needed to be reminded of this, because if you left it to them to work out for themselves they would never bother. They would just find out what was best for them and they would call that the right thing.

The problem, of course, was that people did not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They needed to be reminded about this, because if you left it to them to work out for themselves, they would never bother. They would just find out what was best for them, and then they would call that the right thing.

But she would not participate in that sort of thing, even if it meant that she lost the election. If you won on the basis of lies and false promises—bribes, really—then your victory would be a hollow one.

The problem, of course, was that people did not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They needed to be reminded about this, because if you left it to them to work out for themselves, they would never bother. They would just find out what was best for them, and then they would call that the right thing. That's how most people thought.

I've never played,' said von Igelfeld. 'Nor I,' said Unterholzer. 'Chess, yes. Tennis no.' 'But that's no reason not to play,' von Igelfeld added quickly. 'Tennis, like any activity, can be mastered if one knows the principles behind it. In that respect it must be like language. The understanding of simple rules produces an understanding of a language. What could be simpler?

Your conscience is your morality, expressed.

Frederick Ward thought novels immoral and had been known to leave the room rather than subject himself to "bohemian" opinions.

There can be as many wrong reasons to do the right thing as there are stars in the sky. There might even be more than one legitimate right reason. But there is never a right reason to do the wrong thing. Not ever.

Very few people really care about freedom, about liberty, about the truth, very few. Very few people have guts, the kind of guts on which a real democracy has to depend. Without people with that sort of guts a free society dies or cannot be born.

Which do you value more, life or honor? Honor,...because everyone must die, but honor lasts forever.

If you think your honor demands you kill every dog that barks at you...you will only find yourself spending all your time chasing dogs. There is no honor in that.

God and Scripture alone are to be our standard of conduct and character.

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world. —Albert Camus

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up wrinkles the soul.

Bret Weinstein

Propaganda (things to be propagated) is inescapable. It is not *whether* certain values will be propagated, but rather, *which* values will be propagated.

One of the staples of discussion about basic aesthetic principles is that art has to exist for its own self and cannot be prostituted to advance any particular cause or point of view. Perfect nonsense, of course, but that doesn't keep it from being repeated ad nauseam.

To say that someone is a conservative does not tell us what he is interested in conserving.

Don't worry so much about your self-esteem. Worry more about your character. Integrity is its own reward.

We lead out of our beliefs

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.

Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other.