moral exemplars Quotes

In humility imitate Jesus and Socrates.

In the discharge of thy place set before thee the best examples; for imitation is a globe of precepts.

One of the best ways to elevate your character is to emulate worthy role models

The primary goal in the education of children is to teach, and to give the example of, a virtuous life.

Service is selflessness--the opposite of the lifestyle that we see so much of in America today. The things that entertain us don't often lift us up, or show us as the people we can rise up to become. The people who appear in this book--and others who did things I can't talk about--are my role models. They quietly live out the idea expressed in the Bible (John 15:13): "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Remind oneself continually of one of those who practiced virtue in days gone by.

Super-heroes were created to represent the best in all of us. We should aspire to match their nobility, not their ability to shoot big chrome guns.

The authority of example and considerations of character, unlike pudding, are not whipped up in an instant.

There used to be a time when the idea of heroes was important. People grew up sharing those myths and legends and ideals. Now they grow up sharing McDonalds and Disneyland.

The great moral teachers of humanity were in a way artistic geniuses in the art of living.

Can those entrusted with the gravest authority set any example save that of the sternest obedience to the law?

Gandhi or Bishop Tutu or the Dalai Lama. I think they're really embodiments of what we aspire to and, by keeping them in our heads, we're reminding ourselves of who we could be. That's what we're hoping to climb up towards.

Spartans, stoics, heroes, saints and gods use short and positive speech.

It is remarkable that among all the preachers there are so few moral teachers. The prophets are employed in excusing the ways of men.

The great benefactors of individuals and of communities are the enlightened educators: the wise-teaching, mental and moral instructors and exemplars of our times.

...the number of saintly men has not yet risen to the level where the census makes them a separate statistical category.