Ethics and Morality

Facts are the enemy of truth.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.

Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means.

There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

We are all motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is, the more he is inspired to glory.

He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.

If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.

Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.

Good order is the foundation of all things.

In every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong; honor that; try to imitate it, and your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes.

I come to the office each morning and stay for long hours doing what has to be done to the best of my ability. And when you've done the best you can you can't do any better.

The first virtue of all really great men is that they are sincere. They eradicate hypocrisy from their hearts.

Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.

Pleasure that is obtained by unreasonable and unsuitable cost, must always end in pain.

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.

The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be.

It is easy to perform a good action, but not easy to acquire a settled habit of performing such actions.

Duties are not performed for duties' sake, but because their neglect would make the man uncomfortable. A man performs but one duty, the duty of contenting his spirit, the duty of making himself agreeable to himself.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.