Quotes About Ethics

There is not a single outward mark of courtesy that does not have a deep moral basis.

Chivalry is a poor substitute for justice, if one cannot have both. Chivalry is something like the icing on cake, sweet, but not nourishing.

This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.

A gentleman is mindful no less of the freedom of others than of his own dignity.

Our Congressmen are the finest body of men money can buy.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on office, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

An honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought.

I'm not an old, experienced hand at politics. But I am now seasoned enough to have learned that the hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.

When Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero 106-43 BC,) was in 64 BC running for consul of Rome he was reported to be advised by his "campaign manager" that the voters "had rather you lied to them than refused them."

Ultimately politics in a democracy reflects values much more than it shapes them.

There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

We make our own criminals, and their crimes are congruent with the national culture we all share. It has been said that a people get the kind of political leadership they deserve. I think they also get the kinds of crime and criminals they themselves bring into being.

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.

Property has its duties as well as its rights.

I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

It is easy enough to say that poverty is no crime. No, if it were, men wouldn't be ashamed of it. It's a blunder, though, and is punished as such.

Modern poverty is not the poverty that was blest in the Sermon on the Mount.

Self-praise is no recommendation.

Among the smaller duties in life, I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising when praise is not due.

None can pray well but he that lives well.

Religion without humanity is a poor human stuff.

Do as we say, and not as we do.

I would rather be right than President.

Pride, perceiving humility honourable, often borrows her cloak.