The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

Well, I’ll put it this way: you can certainly say belief in God makes people behave worse. That can be proved beyond a doubt.

I have observed that society in general always seems to honor its living conformists and its dead troublemakers.

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ.

Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another.

A gentleman would be ashamed should his deeds not match his words.

Honor and shame from no condition rise. Act well your part: there all the honor lies.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

There is the good and the bad, the great and the low, the just and the unjust. I swear to you that all that will never change.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

Cruelty is, perhaps, the worst kid of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty.

The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.

Why lie? I’m not going to be a hypocrite and say the opposite of what I think, like some others do.

The dropping of bombs on people – isn’t that terrorism?

Today we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation’s promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.

A man is great by deeds, not by birth.

A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion. Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.

I would never do a commercial if I thought it was offensive to anyone.

All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules.

The violence in the Bible is appalling.

The computer brings out the worst in some people.

Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.

One must not cheat anyone, not even the world of its victory.

He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.

The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.

A man’s true character comes out when he’s drunk.

We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles.

A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.

Conscience is a man’s compass.

Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.

If there is no God, everything is permitted.

The post of honour is a private station.

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.

When in doubt tell the truth.

Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all – the apathy of human beings.

Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.

When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.

If a man’s character is to be abused there’s nobody like a relative to do the business.

There’s no political point worth my son’s life.

Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.

I’m skeptical of any mission that has advertisers at its centerpiece.

The glory of the nation rests in the character of her men. And character comes from boyhood. Thus, every boy is a challenge to his elders.

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

Some mystery should be left in the revelation of character in a play, just as a great deal of mystery is always left in the revelation of character in life, even in one’s own character to himself.

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.

If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it.

One of the great strengths of the United States is… we have a very large Christian population – we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.

Crime when it succeeds is called virtue.

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.