Martha Beck Quotes

I'm just a swell guy. No, that's a ridiculous notion - if you're being an asshole to people, you're being an asshole, that's all there is to it. It can't be rationalized because you wrote something worthwhile. First obligation is to other people.

Human morality is unthinkable without empathy.

I'm not sure anything makes you an outright good person or bad person - that we're all capable of doing good or bad things. And if you want to know how much good you can do, and how much hurt you can do, just ask somebody you love.

There are some things I am afraid of: I am afraid to do a mean thing.

Being a decent human being will require effort and energy.

I am not going to change who I am. I am human and I know how to love, and be kind, and be compassionate to those who are weaker than me. Just because I have power doesn't mean I have to use it!

The challenge today is to convince people of the value of truth, honesty, compassion and a concern for others.

The most valuable asset we have, actually, is our ability to understand, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be decent.

I hope that's what I've taught my girls - to be fair, to recognize their own position and their own good fortune, to use their voices to make things better. Beyond that, I'd tell them just to be kind.

People with no morals often considered themselves more free, but mostly they lacked the ability to feel or love.

Make a careful list of all things done to you that you abhorred. Don't do them to others, ever.

Good character consists of recognizing the selfishness that inheres in each of us and trying to balance it against the altruism to which we should all aspire. It is a difficult balance to strike, but no definition of goodness can be complete without it.

The measure of and self-congratulation for our own intelligence should have its basis in our moral behavior as well as our smarts.

The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.

At the end of the day, the Golden Rule is called the Golden Rule for a reason - do unto others as you would have done to you. In terms of commandments you could probably just do that one and you would be well off. If everybody could adhere to that one, we'd be OK, as long as a masochist wasn't in charge of people.

I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.

First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.

Try to find the path of least resistance and use it without harming others. Live with integrity and morality, not only with people but with all beings.

Power is dangerous unless you have humility.

I value kindness in myself and others. I try to remain super-vigilant about my targets and make extra sure that my sometimes barbed comments are deserved and in response to genuine malefaction.

Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.

It seems entirely possible to me that horrible things can be going on without us becoming horrible people.

And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond; that you do what you say you're going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them.

No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.

It's very important in a leadership role not to place your ego at the foreground and not to judge everything in relationship to how your ego is fed.