A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.

Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete.

In matters of truth the fact that you don’t want to publish something is, nine times out of ten, a proof that you ought to publish it.

Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.

If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between good and evil, is also an illusion.

I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.

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

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.

It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts.

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.

Saints need sinners.

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

I carry a small sheet of paper in my wallet that has written on it the names of people whose opinions of me matter. To be on that list, you have to love me for my strengths and struggles.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

My mother always taught us that if people don’t agree with you, the important thing is to listen to them. But if you’ve listened to them carefully and you still think that you’re right, then you must have the courage of your convictions.

If anyone offers conjectures about the truth of things from the mere possibility of hypotheses, I do not see by what stipulation anything certain can be determined in any science, since one or another set of hypotheses may always be devised which will appear to supply new difficulties.

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

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

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten.

We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.

There are no facts, only interpretations.

We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.

There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

Morality is a private and costly luxury.

People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday School, but it’s true.

All that we call ideal in Greek or any other art, because to us it is false and visionary, was, to the makers of it, true and existent.

It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

I do not think I could myself be brought to support a man for office whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.

Morality which depends upon the helplessness of a man or woman has not much to recommend it. Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose.

Half a truth is better than no politics.

Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.

In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.

Evil is whatever distracts.

It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a moment’s grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one’s life.

And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond; that you do what you say you’re going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them and even if you don’t agree with them.

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

I heard a definition once: Happiness is health and a short memory! I wish I’d invented it, because it is very true.

More than anything else, I want the folks back at home to think right of me.

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

After many years of great mercy, after tasting of the powers of the world to come, we still are so weak, so foolish; but, oh! when we get away from self to God, there all is truth and purity and holiness, and our heart finds peace, wisdom, completeness, delight, joy, victory.

Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.

My mother would kill me if I posed nude! My mother raised me with certain standards.

‚Thursday‘ is a conceptual album. Whatever that situation was, I spent the whole album focusing on that situation.

Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.

May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions were to become universal law.

Sometimes I feel like being an intellectual. Sometimes I like to just be aggressive and all the way in my feelings. Sometimes I might be emotional, or sometimes I might drag on the track and be lazy. I just like to share the different states of existence of Kevin Gates with the rest of the world.

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

A lot of truth is said in jest.

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

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.

What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.