James Patterson Quotes

I don't know how a man can live with himself to get to the top knowing he didn't do it the right way.

Those who are most moral are farthest from the problem.

I consider myself a fairly ethical individual while I do have a lot of dichotomies within me. We're all victims of our own hypocrisy at times.

Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any methods.

Ethical is 'I'll wait and do what's right even in the hardest times and even if I have to give up gains to do it.'

You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.

I started to think about the assumptions we make that everyone we meet operates under the same moral code, and how betrayed we feel when that isn't the case.

Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principle of evil.

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.

When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.

I would never sacrifice my individual beliefs as a citizen to my corporate responsibilities.

I don't want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living.

A scrupulous man will never produce a great novel.

Shakespeare pursued the highway of the right. He did not seek to put his characters in a position where it was right to do wrong.

Enhanced interrogation is not to be considered lightly, but the use of enhanced interrogation techniques does not require moral people to abandon their beliefs. Rather, it is precisely during these difficult times that one's beliefs about life, justice and mercy become indispensible.

His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy.

Don’t put yourself in a situation where you will not be able to achieve your ideals without violating them.

All a man can betray is his conscience.

I have learned that a clear conscience, or a legal opinion, does not make you ethically bullet proof.

His conduct still right with his argument wrong.

That which is morally wrong will never be politically right.

The wrong is wrong and the fall of the majority in such wrong does not justify it. It is known that the right way is difficult and not all the people can follow it, but only the few distinguished for their principles.

It's difficult in the abstract to appreciate that those with morally objectionable viewpoints can still be good people.

Occasionally the conflict between 'what we stand for' and 'what we do' has been forthrightly addressed.

The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.