Thomas Jefferson Quotes

I think character is real important. And you know, and I think the public does.

Would that the simple maxim, that honesty is the best policy, might be laid to heart; that a sense of the true aim of life might elevate the tone of politics and trade till public and private honor become identical.

I think the greater responsibility, in terms of morality, is where leadership begins.

I learned one thing in Watergate: I was well-intentioned but rationalized illegal behavior. You cannot live your life other than walking in the truth. Your means are as important as your ends.

Even the most dishonest officer would want to be seen as a role model for his children.

The important thing is to do the right thing. Then credibility will follow.

Moral character has now some influence in our elections, but not that place which it deserves. The law of public opinion excludes confirmed sots, and persons judicially convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors against the State; but it ought to render the election of all profane swearers, notorious Sabbath breakers, seducers, slanderers, prodigals and riotous persons, as well as the advocates of dueling, impracticable.

I suppose that an honest man shines more in politics than he does elsewhere.

We ought never to do wrong when anyone is looking.

One must keep one's character. Earn a character first if you can, and if you can't, then assume one.

In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.

I cannot flinch from saying such things in public. As a Representative of the People I am duty bound to do so. Justice cries out to me not to dissemble.

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

In every project I do, I'm unwilling to compromise my values and morals and ethics. That's very important to me.

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

They're the last human beings susceptible to human shame. Politicians are the only people left for whom, occasionally, shame hurts them. Everyone else, we've sort of done away with it as a concept, and we're hurtling through space like animals, basically.

Never, ever cheat, especially yourself, even if you are absolutely, positively sure that you can get away with it.

Be fair in all your dealings, may it be in your family or in your business. At the end of it all, what matters is not how much money you make but how honest you are.

Every night I go over what I did in the day, in ethical or moral terms. Have I treated people properly? Did I tell the truth?

Our culture does not teach us this, but what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas. If you cheat in Vegas, it comes right home with you. If you cheat in Vegas, you walk home as a cheater. You lie awake at a night a cheater. You cannot escape it.

I never did anything I'm really ashamed of.

A woman of honor should never suspect another of things she would not do herself.

The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.

Above all, I would teach him to tell the truth Truth-telling, I have found, is the key to responsible citizenship. The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common: Every single one was a liar.

Live never to be ashamed if anything you say or do is published around the world, even if what is said is not true.