Only a man’s character is the real criterion of worth.

Don’t be dependent. At all. Ever. Period.

To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.

You can do the same thing with $20 million that you would do with $50 million. So at a certain point in your life and in your career, you realise that it’s not about the money.

Make yourself necessary to somebody.

Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.

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.

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value.

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.

People who add value to others do so intentionally. I say that because to add value, leaders must give of themselves, and that rarely occurs by accident.

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Self-respect knows no considerations.

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.

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.

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.

I think I should learn French and be a better cook – basic, really good life stuff.

Before you start a goal – let’s take care of our insecurities because they are going to surface when you put yourself in the crucible and you’re suffering.

Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.

We choose what attitudes we have right now. And it’s a continuing choice.

I have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life.

It is important for you to know who you are and who you may become. It is more important than what you do, even as vital as your work is and will be.

I’m not very ambitious at all.

Alas! You complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask the Master to tune the heart-strings.

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.

If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people – including me – would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes.

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

Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.

If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty, and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly than aesthetics will see its moral lesson. It will fill the cowardly with terror, and the unclean will see in it their own shame.

Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation.

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

Every man is his own hell.

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.

I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money’s sake.

A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.

It is possible for one never to transgress a single law and still be a bastard.

In a certain sense the Good is comfortless.

Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?

No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people.

Of course, animals have to be killed for food or to prevent their doing injury to others or to property. But such killing is too often carried out without regard to the pain inflicted.

The highest reach of injustice is to be deemed just when you are not.

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.

Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

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

There’s strong data that, within companies, the No. 1 reason for ethical violations is the pressure to meet expectations, sometimes unrealistic expectations.

Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

I’m not talent. Not considered ‚talent‘ by Lifetime. I’d like to say I’m their savior, but that would be cocky.

That’s the biggest gift I can give anybody: ‚Wake up, be aware of who you are, what you’re doing and what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming ill.‘

The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children cannot be measured. They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, and industry.

It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.

A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise.

The first story I finished was when I was six years old.

Violence is both unavoidable and unjustifiable.

Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at.

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