Marcus Aurelius Quotes

Think nothing profitable to you which compels you to break a promise, to lose your self respect, to hate any person, to curse, to act the hypocrite.

On the whole, I should say that the person who likes to lie should never, in any circumstances, be allowed to. Leave the lying to the people who hate it. You will not find them indulging often.

it is better in the long run to be cheated than to cheat. I have learned that there is no middle way.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

An honorable man or woman is one who is truthful; free from deceit; above cheating, lying, stealing, or any form of deception. An honorable man or woman is one who learns early that one cannot do wrong and feel right. A man's character is judged on how he keeps his word and his agreements.

Integrity is important in building relationships. And is the foundation upon which many other qualities for success are built, such as respect, dignity, and trust.

Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light or look the world in the face.

Look at all those American preachers who got caught with their pants down. They say one thing and they are doing another. I try to be more honest about it, both in my thinking and my behavior.

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?

A good man will not lie, although it be for his profit.

A small lie, if it actually is a lie, condemns a man as much as a big and black falsehood. If a man will deliberately cheat to the amount of a single cent, give him opportunity and he would cheat to any amount.

[Ross Perot] thinks that proclaiming honesty is the same as being honest.

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

A clean and sensitive conscience, a steady and scrupulous integrity in small things as well as large, is the most valuable of all possessions, to a nation as to an individual.

It is a fair adornment of a man and a great convenience both to himself and to all those with whom he converses and deals, to act uprightly, uniformly, and consistently. The practice of piety frees a man from interior distraction and from irresolution in his mind, from duplicity or inconstancy in his character, and from confusion in his proceedings, and consequently securing for others freedom from deception and disappointment in their transactions with him.

A big part of honesty is self-discipline, personal resolve, and taking pride in who you are as a person and what each action means to your character.

Attend well to your character, and your reputation will look out for itself.

There are many who say more than the truth on some occasions, and balance the account with their consciences by saying less than the truth on others. But the fact is that they are in both instances as fraudulant as he would be that exacted more than his due from his debtors, and paid less than their due to his creditors.

There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity

A man may be very sincere in good principles, without having good practice.

Are you going to show integrity only when someone is watching you - or are you going to show it all the time?

Integrity means always doing what is right and good, regardless of the immediate consequences.

Want of principle is power. Truth and honesty set a limit to our efforts, which impudence and hypocrisy easily overleap.

The intention of cheating no one lays us open to being cheated ourselves.