James Meredith Quotes

Pointing to another world will never stop vice among us; shedding light over this world can alone help us.

Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.

In the nineties, everybody wants to talk about their rights and privileges. Twenty-five years ago, people talked about their obligations and responsibilities.

What, pray, does it profit a man to teach others, and to be prating always about virtue, in high-sounding words, if he fails to give heed to his own instructions?

My power for good, whatever it may, would be gone if I didn’t try to live up to the doctrines I have tried to preach.

Forget being an actor-director: we, as citizens, have the responsibility to make the country a better place. And that doesn't mean advertising other people's agendas; it means looking at what is wrong and making it right.

We have no right to come forward and urge wider changes for good, until we have tried to alter the evils which lie under our own hands.

If we make all of the people good, markets will be good. If markets are bad, which they are, that means people are bad, which they are. Want good markets? Change the people.

I try to be a good person. I know what my downfalls are, so that's a good thing.

I just try to do my best and make the best judgments I can.

There is no public out there who needs to change. It's each one of us.

A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives - of approving of some and disapproving of others.

I find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places - uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me, that concerns me - I find fault.

If you wish to draw off the people from a bad or wicked custom, you must beat up for a march; you must make an excitement, do something that everybody will notice.

I have recommended in my writings the study of civic virtues, without which there is no redemption. I have written likewise (and repeat my words) that reforms, to be beneficial, must come from above, that those which come from below are irregularly gained and uncertain.

I used to think that if someone gained their weight back, it was my fault, but all I can do is be God's motivator and try to instill the motivation in others so they do it themselves.

There's no doubt West Point impacted who I am... It has an enormous emphasis, not only on military aspects, but character development. Whether it's the honor code, or the interactions you have, both with the cadet leadership and the academy leadership, every place you are is a character test.

Personal responsibility is not only recognizing the errors of our ways. Personal responsibility lies in our willingness and ability to correct those errors individually and collectively.

We need to take responsibility and educate people. That's why black folks don't like me. I always say it's our responsibility to make safe neighborhoods. It's our job to get them cleaned up.

The great hope of society is in individual character.

Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our deeds.

You can't rise as a class. You have to rise individually. It's what many of the civil rights-era people don't understand.

I see bad stuff on the street all the time that I don't do anything about. I do bad stuff myself all the time. The goal is not to somehow be perfect - that's silly, that's naive. The goal is to just recognize there are choices in front of us, and to try to make better ones.

Good actions ennoble us, we are the sons of our own deeds.

Whether it's making a film or raising my children, personally I'm striving to do the right things and to learn.