Dean Koontz Quotes

Civilization depends on morality.

Politics is not the nicest business, but there are still times when people do the right thing.

You always gotta do the right thing: you never know who's watching.

Behaving morally because of a hope of reward or a fear of punishment is not morality. Morality is not bribery or threats. Religion is bribery and threats. Humans have morality. We don't need religion.

Early in life I learned, just through observation, that right always wins out over wrong. If a person has good intentions in his heart and wants to do the right thing, then there are certain ways that any obstacle can be overcome.

Every lawsuit results from somebody doing something wrong. If everybody did right, we wouldn't need laws.

History shows that Americans believe in doing the right thing.

We need to have a purpose in this life. I'm pleading with you, I'm begging with you to do the right thing. And do it not for the sake of how it will impact your own lives, but only for the sake of doing the right thing.

It is a sort of great Victorian truth that actually, trying to do the right thing is pretty good for you and pretty good for business as well, by and large.

Why does everyone think that he can be decent enough without the policeman, but that the club is needed for "the others?

Because just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals.

Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws—but the final task is not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted—when we tolerate what we know to be wrong—when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy, or too frightened—when we fail to speak up and speak out—we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.

Laws don't really restrain people. Ninety-eight percent of people follow a virtuous course with or without laws.

In terms of behaving in a civic way, I feel my behavior is always exemplary.

You must do right before you feel good.

It was fear that was then making you a good citizen, which is never a lasting teacher of duty.

Dangerous acts can be done safely in a community which thinks and feels rightly, which would be the way to hell if they were executed by those who think and feel wrongly.

We, as humans, have actually developed a sense of social responsibility. We have gone beyond our basic instincts.

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

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

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

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us.

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

We do not just blindly concede control to authorities; instead we follow the cues provided by our moral communities on how best to behave.