Echoes

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.

If my body dies, let my body die, but do not let my country die.

Peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character.

There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good. I swear by non-violence because I know that it alone conduces to the highest good of mankind, not merely in the next world, but in this also. I object to violence because, when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

We must ever bear in mind that the great end in view is righteousness, justice as between man and man, nation and nation, the chance to lead our lives on a somewhat higher level, with a broader spirit of brotherly goodwill one for another. Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy. We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong. No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality.

In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.

There never was a good war or a bad peace.

Virtue is serious business; everything else is farce.

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.

When the happiness or misery of others depends in any respect upon our conduct, we dare not, as self–love might suggest to us, prefer the interest of one to that of many. The man within immediately calls to us, that we value ourselves too much and other people too little, and that, by doing so, we render ourselves the proper object of the contempt and indignation of our brethren. Neither is this sentiment confined to men of extraordinary magnanimity and virtue. It is deeply impressed upon every tolerably good soldier, who feels that he would become the scorn of his companions, if he could be supposed capable of shrinking from danger, or of hesitating, either to expose or to throw away his life, when the good of the service required it.

I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

My life is my message.

It would be better for me that the whole world should disagree with me than that I, being one, should be out of harmony with myself.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Go forth in virtue!

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.