Jeh Johnson Quotes

My moral compass swings far to the left, but when it comes to gratuitous violence, I have trouble.

Killing a man should be harder than waving a length of pipe in their direction. It should take long enough for one's conscience to get in the way.

In Survivor and Finder's Fee, it is about what you would do if you could get away with it. Survivor is about your own integrity and where you draw your own ethical and moral lines. There are no rules.

I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists.

I never want to possibly take another life in my hands.

Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that group to do alone?

The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule , between good and evil but between two evils. You can let the Nazis rule the world : that is evil; or you can overthrow them by war , which is also evil. There is no other choice before you, and whichever you choose you will not come out with clean hands.

It is great sin to swear unto a sin, But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.

When honor and the Law no longer stand on the same side of the line, how do we choose[?]

you could have forgiven my committing a sin if you hadn't feared that I had a committed a pleasure as well.

On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That it was my job? My job?

With a great moral issue involved, neutrality does not serve righteousness; for to be neutral between right and wrong is to serve wrong.

He knew that conscience was chiefly fear of society or fear of oneself.

Nobody has the right to put another under such a difficulty that he must either hurt the person by telling the truth or hurt himself by telling what is not true.

The fear of doing right is the grand treason in times of danger.

The antagonism between life and conscience may be removed in two ways: by a change of life or by a change of conscience.

High minds, of native pride and force, Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse; Fear, for their scourge, means villains have, Thou art the torturer of the brave!

He recalls what that first German soldier said to his major: No God-not yours or mine-approves of what you're doing.

I felt I had a responsibility to do the right thing. And then I wanted to do the right thing by my family and there was no handbook.

We do the best we can," she said softly, looking inward. "And punish ourselves for it. I've tried to make my choices with the idea that I've made those choices for the greatest good. Sometimes someone suffers in the process, but I made the decision for the right reason. That should count for something, shouldn't it?

Every bullet fired from the barrel of a police pistol was my bullet. If you call that murder, then I am the murderer.

To oblige a friend by inflicting an injury on his enemy is often more easy than to confer a benefit on the friend himself.

Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles.

It would repel me less to be a hangman than a soldier, because the one is obliged to put to death only criminals sentenced by the law, but the other kills honest men who like himself bathe in innocent blood at the bidding of some superior.

Not even God can make something fair out of what is intrinsically unfair. Only one thing can be done. Something must break through the crust of unfairness and create a chance for a new fairness. Only forgiveness can make the breakthrough.