Hermann Hesse Quotes

In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.

Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us.

An uplifting sense of purpose is more than an impetus for individual accomplishment, it is also a necessary insurance policy against expediency and impropriety.

If you want young people to take right and wrong seriously, you must put them in the presence of people who take right and wrong seriously.

I know but one code of morality for man whether acting singly or collectively. He who says I will be a rogue when I act in company with a hundred others, but an honest man when I act alone, will be believed in the former assertion, but not in the latter.

I would never ever knowingly break the law.

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.

Rationality tied to moral decency is the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.

The moral man is he who is opposed to injustice per se, opposed to injustice wherever he finds it; the moral man looks for injustice first of all in himself.

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?

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.

We can live our own lives in a way that does not bring reproach on the principles we claim to support.

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.'

We reform others unconsciously when we walk uprightly.

It is almost impossible to imagine that any one could be so insensible to the high morality of Mr. Mill's character as to suggest to him any course of conduct that was not entirely upright and consistent.

Let us be tried by our actions.

Virtue herself is her own fairest reward.

We must never lose sight of the fact that the law has a moral foundation, and we must never fail to ask ourselves not only what the law is, but what the law should be.

So you can't judge the character you're playing ever.

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

It is true that legality is not morality, and sticking to the law is necessary for good citizenship, but it is not sufficient.

My future is righteousness.

When about to commit a base deed, respect thyself, though there is no witness.

I don't want to be a bad role model.