Quotes About Values

That's what so many people didn't understand about life. The real world is the one within the walls of homes; the outside world, of careers and politics and money and fame, that was the fake world, where nothing lasted, and things were real only to the extent they harmed or helped people inside their homes.

Oh, Val, said Father. All you have to do is live your life, and everyone around you will be happier. No greatness, then. Val, said Mother, goodness trumps greatness any day. Not in the history books, said Valentine. Then the wrong people are writing history, aren't they? said Father.

I don't know of a soul who doesn't maintain two separate lists of doctrines - the ones they believe they believe; and the ones that they actually try to live by.

There is no society that does not highly value fictional storytelling. Ever.

Val, said Mother, goodness trumps greatness any day. Not in the history books, said Valentine. Then the wrong people are writing history, aren't they? said Father.

Even gentle people recognize that sometimes the decision not to kill is a decision to die.

That was the difference between her and the idiots of the world. They were all trying to look smart and keep their social standing. Whereas Valentine didn't care about social standing, she cared about getting it right. Getting the truth.

Val," said Mother, "goodness trumps greatness any day." "Not in the history books," said Valentine. "Then the wrong people are writing history, aren't they?" said Father.

No greatness, then.' 'Val,' said Mother, 'goodness trumps greatness any day.' 'Not in the history books,' said Valentine. 'Then the wrong people are writing history, aren't they?' said Father.

In wartime, commanders have always had to learn the concept of "acceptable losses." But those who keep their humanity never really accept the idea of acceptability

With gay marriage, the last shreds of meaning will be stripped away from marriage, with homosexuals finishing what faithless, selfish heterosexuals have begun.

There's a longer view, in which life and death are less important matters than choosing what kind of life and what kind of death we have.

I don't know a soul who doesn't maintain two separate lists of doctrines—the ones that they believe that they believe; and the ones that they actually try to live by.

but this is the culture of China. There is no nation other than China, no society and traditions worth preserving other than those found in China, no people more important than the Chinese.

Americans were all farmers and shopkeepers at heart....

We're businessmen, Chubs. The moral high ground is wherever we set it.

You can achieve the greatest things in the world, but if it is at the cost of your marriage or family, it is worth nothing.

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people we personally dislike.

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.

And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.

It is better to be beautiful then to be good, but it is better to be good then to be ugly.

Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.

Young people, nowadays, imagine that money is everything. Yes, murmured Lord Henry, settling his button-hole in his coat; and when they grow older they know it.