Richard G. Scott Quotes

Character must be kept bright as well as clean.

I try very hard to live my life in an exemplary way, which is, you know, 'Shine bright like Frankie.'

I believe that if you regularly make the right choice - and it takes practice; it takes effort - the more you make the right choice, the easier it gets.

God just kept me on the right path. I never smoked, drank, none of that.

. . . Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger.

Do we need more laws? God forbid! We need more righteousness, more freedom, and more godly men -- and fewer laws.

People will not follow a leader with moral incongruities for long. Every time you compromise character you compromise leadership. The foundation of firm leadership is character.

Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in the trials and testing of life. Your faith can guide you to those correct choices.

Worthy character is best forged from a life of consistent, correct choices centered in the teachings of the Master.

To allow lust (or strong desires) to govern our life is to exalt our will over God's.

Half at least of all morality is negative and consists in keeping out of mischief. The lords prayer is less than 50 words long, and 6 of those words are devoted to asking god not to lead us into temptation.

I can only say that I have acted upon my best convictions, without selfishness or malice, and that by the help of God I shall continue to do so.

It would be a great thing if people could be brought to realize that they can never add to the sum of their happiness by doing wrong.

The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.

...Next time you're faced with a choice, do the right thing. It hurts everyone less in the long run.

We should ask God to help us toward manners. Inner gifts do not find their way to creatures without just respect.

Better to fail at doing the right thing than to succeed at doing the wrong thing.

There is no substitute for virtue. Keep your thoughts virtuous. Rise above the filth that's all around you in this world and stand tall in strength and virtue. You can do this and you will be happier for it for as long as you live. God bless you in cherishing, developing and holding on to this great gift, the quality of personal virtue.

Purpose ... is held to be most closely connected with virtue, and to be a better token of our character than are even our acts.

Integrity, honesty, and honor may not give immediate rewards or gratification, and they can be life-threatening (for example, being a whistle-blower or turning state's evidence). The absence of integrity, honesty, and honor do not always bring punishment or scorn, and can be life-aggrandizing (connivers and cheats often gain power and wealth). Therefore, morality must be its own reward.

Everybody has an instinctive desire to do good things and avoid evil. But that desire is sterile as long as we have no experience of what it means to be good.

Integrity is the light that shines from a disciplined conscience.

One of the greatest failures of our generation is not living out the biblical precepts which we so clearly articulate.

It's not enough to have good intentions. If you want to be a good person, you have to make good decisions all the time and live a life that's worth living and that you can be proud of, and that's what I wanted.

Seek virtue and of that posest, to Providence resign the rest.