William Hazlitt Quotes

Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honourable.

The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.

A good man should and must Sit rather down with loss than rise unjust.

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

Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollity; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.

Doing the right thing doesn't always bring success. But compromising ethics almost always leads to failure.

Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.

The last degree of honesty has always been, and is still considered incompatible with statesmanship. To hunger and thirst after righteousness has been naturally, as it were, supposed a disqualification for affairs.

But your mind is warped by an innate principle of general integrity, and, therefore, not accessible to the cool reasonings of family partiality, or a desire of revenge.

Because right is right, to follow right Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.

I prefer to do right and get no thanks than to do wrong and receive no punishment.

Integrity, honesty, and honor may not give immediate rewards or gratification, and they can be life-threatening (for example, being a whistle-blower or turning state's evidence). The absence of integrity, honesty, and honor do not always bring punishment or scorn, and can be life-aggrandizing (connivers and cheats often gain power and wealth). Therefore, morality must be its own reward.

A good man with a good conscience doesn't walk so fast.

In day-to-day life, you have stimulus to behave unethically, but in the long term, it always pays off to be ethical.

There is no real excellence in all of this world which can be separated from right living.

Stand up for what you know is right.

A man is usually more careful of his money than he is of his principles.

It is almost impossible to imagine that any one could be so insensible to the high morality of Mr. Mill's character as to suggest to him any course of conduct that was not entirely upright and consistent.

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.

The literary depiction of life and its moral dilemmas compel us to use our conscience, to make those infallible distinctions between right and wrong.

Nothing in our times has become so unattractive as virtue.

My future is righteousness.

I always admired virtue - but I could never imitate it.

Ethics are not necessarily to do with being law-abiding. I am very interested in the moral path, doing the right thing.