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

Great bodies of people are never responsible for what they do.

I can be a cruel person.

If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.

It is a common enough case, that of a man being suddenly captivated by a woman nearly the opposite of his ideal.

Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.

The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.

Woe to him that claims obedience when it is not due; woe to him that refuses it when it is.

The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state.

I just get annoyed at myself. A lot of swearing goes on generally when I am driving.

Mastery, I learned, was not something genetic, or for a lucky few. It is something we can all attain if get rid of some misconceptions and gain clarity as to the required path.

It’s not fun to get out of bed early in the morning. When the alarm goes off, it doesn’t sing you a song: it hits you in the head with a baseball bat. So how do you respond to that? Do you crawl underneath your covers and hide? Or do you get up, get aggressive, and attack the day?

Are creeds such simple things like the clothes which a man can change at will and put on at will? Creeds are such for which people live for ages and ages.

The challenge is to stay cool enough to handle the pressure in the moment so that you can succeed in the future.

Everybody wants to be me. What can I say?

A mission statement is not something you write overnight… But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.

If you want someone to say, ‚She’s so sweet, and she’s so cute, and, honey, point your foot,‘ that’s not my school. You can go to the YMCA and have a nobody teach your kid if that’s what you want to hear.

Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.

I liked to write from the time I was about 12 or 13. I loved to read. And since I only spoke to my brother, I would write down my thoughts. And I think I wrote some of the worst poetry west of the Rockies. But by the time I was in my 20s, I found myself writing little essays and more poetry – writing at writing.

Modesty is the color of virtue.

Our diplomacy and development budget is not just about reducing spending and finding efficiencies. We need a frank conversation about what we stand for as that ‚shining city on a hill.‘ And that conversation begins by acknowledging that we can’t do it on the cheap.

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.

Whatever you dwell on in the conscious grows in your experience.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

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.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

I know of only one duty, and that is to love.

I don’t follow all the 48 laws. Like, I’ve never crushed anyone totally.

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.

Number of people have said to me, after hearing your thinking, their mind becomes much more happier.

Among the many values in life, I appreciate freedom most.

To those whose talents are above mediocrity, the highest subjects may be announced. To those who are below mediocrity, the highest subjects may not be announced.

I disagree with any policy that would turn America’s back on people who are fleeing harm. I frankly believe that it is contrary to everything that we have symbolically and actually said we stand for.

The only objects of practical reason are therefore those of good and evil. For by the former is meant an object necessarily desired according to a principle of reason; by the latter one necessarily shunned, also according to a principle of reason.

It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.

If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.

The desire to annoy no one, to harm no one, can equally well be the sign of a just as of an anxious disposition.

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

I’m the proof – you can’t throw away tradition.

I think it’s OK to be confident in yourself.

I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.

I’m always afraid of failing. I have to quiet that fear if I’m going to get up in the morning.

Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.

Give a man health and a course to steer, and he’ll never stop to trouble about whether he’s happy or not.

Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.

Maturity is the ability to reap without apology and not complain when things don’t go well.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.

What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

The authority you establish must emerge naturally from your character, from the particular strengths you possess.

The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.

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

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

Remember: your bosses prefer to keep you in dependent positions. It is in their interest that you do not become self-reliant, and so they will tend to hoard information. You must secretly work against this and seize this information for yourself.

Where do the evils like corruption arise from? It comes from the never-ending greed. The fight for corruption-free ethical society will have to be fought against this greed and replace it with ‚what can I give‘ spirit.

Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you’re doomed; you’re finished.

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

Lawless are they that make their wills their law.

What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.

I will never say something I don’t agree with or believe in… even if the reward is massive!

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.