Quotes About Ethics

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting but never hit soft

Liar' is just as ugly a word as 'thief,' because it implies the presence of just as ugly a sin in one case as in the other. If a man lies under oath or procures the lie of another under oath, if he perjures himself or suborns perjury, he is guilty under the statute law.

No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community.

The great lawyer who employs his talent and his learning in the highly emunerative task of enabling a very wealthy client to override or circumvent the law is doing all that in him lies to encourage the growth in the country of a spirit of dumb anger against all laws and of disbelief in their efficacy.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

To educate a man in mind, and not morals is to educate a menace to society.

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'.

If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness.

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.

No man is above the law, and no man is below it.

The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided, but NEVER hit softly.

Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent.

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

It was a pleasure to deal with a man of high ideals, who scorned everything mean and base, and who possessed those robust and hardy qualities of body and mind, for the lack of which no merely negative virtue can ever atone.

We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when any one engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal.

It is no use to preach to children if you do not act decently yourself.

No ability, no strength and force, no power of intellect or power of wealth, shall avail us, if we have not the root of right living in us.

We cordially believe in the rights of property. We think that normally and in the long run the rights of humanity, coincide with the rights of property... But we feel that if in exceptional cases there is any conflict between the rights of property and the rights of man, then we must stand for the rights of man.

To befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business & corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The second best thing is the wrong thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

No amount of charity in spending such fortunes can compensate in any way for the misconduct in acquiring them.