Tom Graves Quotes

No one is too young to do the right thing.

Politics is not the nicest business, but there are still times when people do the right thing.

Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us.

It is my hope that as South Carolina senators, that we will stand up for what is best and good about our state.

Instead of taking a very high-paying type of law job or something that I might be able to do, I have been a legislator. That's what I do. I think it's an honorable profession - if you're honest and have integrity and work hard.

History shows that Americans believe in doing the right thing.

Telling the truth, and confronting the challenge, is what politics is about.

Publicity and openness, honest and complete -- that is the prime condition for the health of every society, and ours, too. The man who does not want them in our country is indifferent to his fatherland and thinks only about his own gain.

We need people willing to do things because they are doing what is right, not because some powerful trade association wants it done.

It is the essence of responsibility to put the public good ahead of personal gain.

When you are in politics, and you are a genuine person who genuinely cares, then everything comes second.

As exhausted as they may be, Republicans need to appeal to their sense of consciousness. To their principles. To what is right and wrong. To American values.

Self-preservation shouldn't be the first instinct in politics. It should be doing the right thing for the country.

You always gotta do the right thing: you never know who's watching.

I'm not a politician. My conscience has brought me before you. Give me a chance to serve you.

Action itself, so long as I am convinced that it is right action, gives me satisfaction.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

As a citizen of this country, I've got to be honest to the people of South Africa.

Our culture does not teach us this, but what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas. If you cheat in Vegas, it comes right home with you. If you cheat in Vegas, you walk home as a cheater. You lie awake at a night a cheater. You cannot escape it.

Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and politics to mere technique.

A child, from the time he can think, should think about all he sees, should suffer for all who cannot live with honesty, should work so that all men can be honest, and should be honest himself.

I learned one thing in Watergate: I was well-intentioned but rationalized illegal behavior. You cannot live your life other than walking in the truth. Your means are as important as your ends.

I try to work hard. I try to set a good example. I don't look at it as though I've got to be a leader. I just try to behave the way I think I should behave. If that results in a leadership role, great.

I always tried to do what I believed is right and I've always voted the way that I believe was the right way for my constituency, and that's what I'm doing when I govern.

Good government is the outcome of private virtue.