Wallace Stegner Quotes

Customs form us all, our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed beliefs; are consequences of our place of birth.

The question we all face is what sort of culture we will live in for the rest of our lives and then hand on to the next generation - one that embraces these most basic of values, or one that collapses because of their absence.

Champions invariably have fervent philosophical beliefs. Philosophy, in its simplest terms, means 'the love of wisdom.'

It has been said that a nation reveals its character by the values it upholds.

My moral compass is strong.

Principles are what allow you to live a life consistent with those values. Principles connect your values to your actions.

Moralities and religions are the principal means by which one can make whatever one wishes out of man, provided one possesses a superfluity of creative forces and can assert one's will over long periods of time in the form of legislation and customs.

There can be no high civility without a deep morality, though it may not always call itself by that name.

Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals.

What is morality but immemorial custom? Conscience is the chief of conservatives.

Ethics, as has been well said, are the finest fruits of humanity, but they are not its roots

Don't compromise your principles.

You should have a value system. You can win if you stick with your value system.

I like Arsene for his principles but principles are sort of a restriction and restrictions are always lost possibilities.

Honesty is nothin' compared to decency.

As long as the decent people refuse to believe that morality must manifest itself in every sphere of human activity, including the political, they will not meet the challenge of Marxism.

Principles are the territory. Values are maps.

I'm a legend because I've survived over a long period of time and still seem to be master of my fate - I'm still paddling the goddamned boat myself.

You're only as good as your values.

I don't subscribe to relativism, whether it's in political philosophy, foreign policy or in life.

You know, there's a right and wrong way to do everything.

If you forget your roots, you've lost sight of everything

It is this language of values which I hope to bring to my books. . . . I want to bring values to those who have not been valued, and I want to etch those values in terms of the ideal. Young people need ideals which identify them, and their lives, as central . . . guideposts which tell them what they can be, should be, and indeed are.

I think prejudice and tradition count for three-quarters in matters of religion.

The need for values is inbred. Their content is not.