Paul Theroux Quotes

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.

There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose.

There is a value in taking a stand whether or not anybody may be noticing it and whether or not it is a risky thing to do.

I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.

It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.

Leadership is about doing what you know is right - even when a growing din of voices around you is trying to convince you to accept what you know to be wrong.

If I have to degrade myself or do something that I'm not willing to do as a Christian to get something, I'm just not willing to do it.

Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

What is right is not always popular.

I'm always inspired by people who choose to do what is right, not what is easy.

Right is right, even if no one else does it.

Everybody, even me, sometimes had to compromise on something, doing things we know to be wrong, and this happens doing whatever job in the world. But a singer must have the courage of saying no.

I urge you to hold fast to your standards. I plead with you not to waver.

There are things you stand up for because it's right.

It may not always be easy, convenient, or politically correct to stand for truth and right, but it is the right thing to do. Always.

Principle is ever my motto, not expediency.

I did not clash with the National Party. I clashed with my conscience. And in the end, conscience wins.

Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.

My philosophy is different than most of the people up here. I think if you do the right thing and you lose, you still did the right thing. I think if you do less than the right thing and win, it’s morally reprehensible.

Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.

It takes a special conviction to decide to go against the crowd and to know what is right and to act upon it.

I will never say something I don't agree with or believe in... even if the reward is massive!

Don't ever silence your morality to be a part of anything.

It's not easy to be a hero. You do it because of what you believe, not because of what other people deserve.