#Principle Quotes

“Be just, and fear not.”

“Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.”

“Emancipation is the demand of civilization. That is a principle; everything else is an intrigue.”

“Every man who would do anything well, must come to it from a higher ground.”

“The height of the pinnacle is determined by the breadth of the base.”

“The value of a principle is the number of things it will explain.”

“It is better to suffer injustice than to do it.”

“No compromise with the main purpose; no peace till victory; no pact with unrepentant wrong.”

“Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honour's at the stake.”

“Nothing is more dangerous in wartime than to live in the temperamental atmosphere of a Gallup Poll, always feeling ones pulse and taking ones temperature. I see that a speaker at the week-end said that this was a time when leaders should keep their ears to the ground. All I can say is that the British nation will find it very hard to look up to leaders who are detected in that somewhat ungainly posture.”

“Be firm on principle but flexible on method.”

“I'd prefer to be right than consistent.”

“But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts”

“When a company or an individual compromises one time, whether it's on price or principle, the next compromise is right around the corner.”

“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. Once and again one of those great influences which we call a Cause arises in the midst of a nation. Men of strenuous minds and high ideals come forward.... The attacks they sustain are more cruel than the collision of arms.... Friends desert and despise them.... They stand alone and oftentimes are made bitter by their isolation.... They are doing nothing less than defy public opinion, and shall they convert it by blows. Yes.”

“Self-determination is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril.”

“It is my principle that the will of the majority should always prevail.”

“God grant that men of principle shall be our principal men.”

“Liberty is to be subserved, whatever occurs.”

“Principle will, in... most... cases open the way for us to correct conclusion.”

“Where the principle of difference [between political parties] is as substantial and as strongly pronounced as between the republicans and the monocrats of our country, I hold it as honorable to take a firm and decided part and as immoral to pursue a middle line, as between the parties of honest men and rogues, into which every country is divided.”

“Our part is to pursue with steadiness what is right, turning neither to right nor left for the intrigues or popular delusions of the day, assured that the public approbation will in the end be with us.”

“To say that being non-judgmental is better than being judgmental is itself a judgment, and therefore a violation of principle.”

“It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance.”

“Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent.”

“And as to you, Sir, treacherous in private friendship and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any.”

“If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness.”

“A really great people, proud and high spirited, would face all the disasters of war rather than purchase that base prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor.”

“He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.”

“Those words, temperate and moderate, are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.”

“If there is one tendency of the day which more than any other is unhealthy and undesirable, it is the tendency to deify mere "smartness," unaccompanied by a sense of moral accountability. We shall never make our republic what it should be until as a people we thoroughly understand and put in practice the doctrine that success is abhorrent if attained by the sacrifice of the fundamental principles of morality.”

“If I have to choose between peace and righteousness, I'll choose righteousness.”

“The person who pays an ounce of principle for a pound of popularity gets badly cheated.”

“There is a point, of course, where a man must take the isolated peak and break with all his associates for clear principle; but until that time comes he must work, if he would be of use, with men as they are. As long as the good in them overbalances the evil, let him work with them for the best that can be obtained.”

“By going one step further back in thought, discordant opinions are reconciled by being seen to be two extremes of one principle, and we can never go so far back as to preclude a still higher vision.”

“If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last.”

“It can never be necessary to do what is not honourable.”

“It is against the spirit of ahimsa to overawe even one person into submission.”

“The principle of majority does not work when differences on fundamentals are involved.”

“The end is inherent in the means.”

“Means to be means must always be within our reach, and so ahimsa is our supreme duty.”

“If one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself.”

“I am a man of peace. I believe in peace. But I do not want peace at any price.”

“Don't give up on your ideals. Don't compromise. Don't turn to expediency. And for heaven's sake . . . don't get cynical.”

“Ahimsa must be placed before everything else while it is professed. Then alone it becomes irresistible.”

“No society can possibly be built on a denial of individual freedom.”

“Nonviolence of the strong cannot be a mere policy. It must be a creed, or a passion, if 'creed' is objected to.”

“My creed of nonviolence does not favour the punishment of thieves and dacoits and even murderers.”

“A state of war or anarchy, in which law has little force, is so far valuable, that it puts every man on trial. The man of principle is known as such, and even in the fury of faction is respected.”

“Literature must rest always on a principle, and temporal considerations are no principle at all. For, to the poet, all times and places are one; the stuff he deals with is eternal and eternally the same: no theme is inept, no past or present preferable.”