William J. H. Boetcker Quotes

I do what I think is right.

Just because people are in authority, if it doesn't seem right, don't do it. If it violates your own principles, don't do it.

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

Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.

Principle is ever my motto, not expediency.

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

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.

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.

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

What is right is not always popular.

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.

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.

You just have to do what you know is right.

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.

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

I think of my films as not necessarily political but more moral. Between my father, my stepfather, and my mother - they all felt pretty passionately about the importance of standing up and doing the right thing, and none of them were suck-ups. What motivates me is usually abuse of power.

It is far more important to me to preserve an unblemished conscience than to compass any object however great.

The greatest want of the world is the want of men - men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.

Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. It's not hard. Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking.

The issue is not whether or not we can stand with the President. It is whether, at the end of the day, we can stand with ourselves.

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

... a man's first duty is to his own conscience and honor; the party and country come second to that, and never first.

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.

You've got to do what's right, or what you think is right. And you've got to make tough decisions. And you've got to be willing to take on your friends when you disagree with them.

Stay true to your integrity, and if you're doing something that you feel like doesn't represent your integrity, speak up. You have to say that. If you're doing something that doesn't make you feel good, you probably shouldn't be doing it.