It’s better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a terrific cost.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

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

What I can say is that all my characters are searching for their souls, because they are my mirrors. I’m someone who is constantly trying to understand my place in the world, and literature is the best way that I found in order to see myself.

I do not recognize the right of the public to break in the front door of a man’s private life in order to satisfy the gaze of the curious… I do not think it right to dissect living men even for the advancement of science. So far as I am concerned, I prefer a post mortem examination to vivisection without anaesthetics.

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.

Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.

The British people know that, given strong leadership, time, and a little bit of hope, the forces of good ultimately rally and triumph over evil.

Family home evening is more for the purpose of teaching values and gospel principles, displaying talents and enjoying different kinds of family fun and activities.

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, ‚Is it safe?‘ Expediency asks the question, ‚Is it politic?‘ And Vanity comes along and asks the question, ‚Is it popular?‘ But Conscience asks the question, ‚Is it right?‘

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 would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.

Traditions are a common part of our lives. They can be good, and not all traditions are wrong, but sometimes they can take the joy out of life.

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

To live outside the law, you must be honest.

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

When anyone has the power to destroy the whole human race in a matter of hours, it becomes a moral issue. The church must speak out.

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth.

I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.

It’s that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so ‚don’t fuss, dear; get on with it.‘

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

I’ve said this time and again: My greatest concern coming into the White House was making sure my girls came out whole and normal, and decent and kind, just like I would expect them to if we were living on the South Side of Chicago. And it takes work to keep White House life normal for the kids.

Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence.

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.

I am certain no one sets out to be cruel, but our treatment of the elderly ill seems to have no philosophy to it. As a society, we should establish whether we have a policy of life at any cost.

This way of life is worth defending.

The deed is everything, the glory is naught.

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.

Compassion is the basis of morality.

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.

I’m a mama’s boy because everything I do is with respect to my mother. I won’t do a movie or a video that would bring disrespect to my mother.

When you stand for something, you’ve got to stand for it all the way, not half way.

My parents were the same in the pulpit as they were at home. I think that’s where a lot of preachers‘ kids get off base sometimes. Because they don’t see the same things at both places.

Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.

The way I try to represent my family and coaches, I think all are characteristics the league aspires to portray. That’s just who I am.

He incurs a fearful amount of guilt who in the least promotes the aim of the Evil One by trampling upon a tender conscience in a child.

An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.

I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them, but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The Church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I’m here.

I think your values are always influenced by your family and your community.

I don’t have to see a murder in order to condemn murder.

You say it is the good cause that hallows even war? I say unto you: it is the good war that hallows any cause.

When the President does it, that means that it’s not illegal.

Free speech is not just another value. It’s the foundation of Western civilization.

If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?

So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.

But the relationship of morality and power is a very subtle one. Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power.

The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.

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

When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.

Teach us that wealth is not elegance, that profusion is not magnificence, that splendor is not beauty.

The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.

Justice… is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.

What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?

Money can’t buy life.