Sydney J. Harris Quotes

It's not always easy to do the right thing. But, doing the right thing makes you strong, it builds character.

Talent is a gift, but character is a choice.

Virtue is an inner strength. It expands your nature.

Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.

Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

You have to make your choices however you see fit and just keep your integrity as best you can.

In any walk of life, you can choose to do the right thing.

Is it important to be right or is it important to do what's right? That's one of the hardest lessons to learn.

It's more important to do the right thing than to do things right.

We should make virtue our master, not our servant.

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 he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.

In ethics, prudence is not an important virtue, but in the world it is almost everything.

A moral choice in its basic terms appears to be a choice that favors survival: a choice made in favor of life.

It is an important part of our life’s experience to develop the strength, courage, and integrity to hold fast to truth and righteousness despite the buffeting we may experience.

To look for a single general theory of how to decide the right thing to do is like looking for a single theory of how to decide what to believe.

Those in pursuit of Why are inspired to do what is right. Those in pursuit of What are driven to do what is easy.

Wisdom is an affair of values, and of value judgments. It is intelligent conduct of human affairs.

You cannot be firmly certain about anything. You can only have enough courage and strength to do what you consider to be right. Maybe it turns out that was wrong, but still you would have done his, and it is most important.

Putting first things first means organizing and executing around your most important priorities. It is living and being driven by the principles you value most, not by the agendas and forces surrounding you.

Power isn't about doing something terrible to someone who's weaker than you, Reiner. It's having the strength to do something terrible, and choosing not to.

There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain.

Adversity is a crossroads that makes a person choose one of two paths: character or compromise. Every time he chooses character, he becomes stronger, even if that choice brings negative consequences.

One of them is knowing the difference between Morality and Wisdom. Morality is temporary, Wisdom is permanent… Ho ho. Take that one to bed with you tonight.

Character is a perfectly educated will.

The great test of life is ... not to endure storms, but to choose the right while they rage.