Jeff Ament Quotes

It's easy to get into the grey zone [of ethics].

None of us truly knows what we'll do when the circumstances become so overwhelming and complex that we can't even tell right from wrong.

Throughout history, one of the biggest problems is that the correct course of action is not always obvious, and the obvious course of action is not always correct.

Good ideas are the backbone of good government.

I tend to look for the good in bad people and the bad in good people, to make them human. 'Cause I don't think that people generally are that black and white. Maybe in movie-land they can be... but that isn't necessarily all there is.

Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.

Public decision-making does not lend itself to certitude.

There are a lot of good causes out there, but they can't possibly all be served by government.

In terms of the principles of politics, I think I understand well. Thailand needs someone who has leadership, who has the management skills to help the country.

When it comes to politics, there's never a certain yes or no to any situation.

To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure paths must be followed.

As if one could know the good a person is capable of, when one doesn't know the bad he might do.

Politics, according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, is one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good. I cannot wash my hands, eh? We all have to give something!

Washington - having spent a lot of time there, I grew up there and have spent a lot of time there recently - is largely defined by detailed analytical views and policy choices that are not very good. You know, each policy choice has a winner and a loser, right? Somebody's ox is getting gored.

The older I get the more I realize there's no real good guys or real bad guys, and I'm curious about how the good guys got good and how the bad guys got bad.

Politics is a place of humble hopes and strangely modest requirements, where all are good who are not criminal and all are wise who are not ridiculously otherwise.

The beauty of the characters on 'Justified' is that all the human beings that are written are all flawed. Even with the good guys, you see darkness surface.

When you're playing the good guy, you want to find the dirty parts - and when you're playing the bad guy, you want to find the vulnerability.

Government is not an exact science.

To be a political philosopher is more a vocation than a career …. it is a vocation for thinking about the political. Not just day-to-day politics, but about the phenomenon of the political, that all communities of any degree of complexity organize themselves according to certain principles of justice, equality, reciprocity, and authority.

What good would politics be, if it didn’t give everyone the opportunity to make moral compromises?

We must learn for the sake of one another to make better choices guided by more holistic measures of the common good we share.

There aren't always a hell of a lot of absolutely right answers out there.

Everybody is grappling with their own moral compass, and that needle, like any needle, can't just stick. It's always floating a little bit, and depending on where you're standing, it's hard to read.

I don't believe in political strategies. I believe only to do good for the people.