It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
I love not rushing the process. Mind doesn’t shift until it does, and when it does shift, it’s right on time, not one second too late or too soon. People are like seeds waiting to sprout. We can’t be pushed ahead of our own understanding.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Considering how dangerous everything is, nothing is really very frightening.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Never will God suffer the reward to be lost, of those who do right.
—Arabic Proverb
The play account rule is that it must be spent every month. That’s right! Each month you have to blow all the money in that account in a way that makes you feel rich. For example, imagine walking into a massage center, dumping all the money from your account on the counter, pointing to the massage therapists, and saying, “I want both of you on me. With the hot rocks and the frickin’ cucumbers. After that, bring me lunch!”
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.
—Frederick Douglass (1817–95) American Abolitionist, Author, Editor, Diplomat, Political leader
Wrong is but falsehood put in practice.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.
—Alan Watts (1915–73) British-American Philosopher, Author
There are two ways, one is right; the other is wrong. If your work is only about right, then it is wrong.
—George Washington Carver (1864–1943) American Scientist, Botanist, Educator, Inventor
You can be right or you can be happy.
—Gerald Jampolsky (b.1925) American Psychiatrist
For right is right, since God is God and right the day must win. To doubt would be disloyalty, to falter would be sin.
—Frederick William Faber (1814–63) British Hymn writer, Theologian
The reward for doing right is mostly an internal phenomenon: self-respect, dignity, integrity, and self-esteem.
—Laura Schlessinger (b.1947) American Radio Talk-Show Host, Author
No man has a right to do as he pleases, except when he pleases to do right.
—Charles Simmons (1924–2017) American Editor, Novelist
To be outspoken when truth is under attack, when charity is being bruise, or when important issues of life are at stake is a good and courageous thing. To be outspoken when nothing is at stake except the feelings of someone else is a small and contemptible thing.
—Lawrence G. Lovasik
If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The meek shall inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights.
—J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) American Business Person, Art Collector, Philanthropist
You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.
—Lillian Hellman (1905–84) American Playwright, Dramatist, Memoirist
The meek shall inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.
—Brigham Young (1801–77) American Mormon Leader
Without our stories, we are not only able to act clearly and fearlessly, we are also a friend, a listener. We are people living happy lives. We are appreciation and gratitude that have become as natural as breath itself. Happiness is the natural state for someone who knows that there’s nothing to know and that we already have everything we need, right here now.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The time is always right to do what’s right.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
To be in the right is often an expensive business.
—Phyllis Bottome (1884–1963) British Novelist, Short Story Writer, Psychoanalysis
The Lord doesn’t want any person in His kingdom who hasn’t known bad and chosen good.
—Unknown
To think that I know what’s best for anyone else is to be out of my business. Even in the name of love, it is pure arrogance, and the result is tension, anxiety, and fear. Do I know what’s right for me? That is my only business. Let me work with that before I try to solve problems for you.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Great beauty, great strength, and great riches are really and truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
True happiness comes from doing what’s right not just doing what makes you feel good.
—Unknown
My principle is to do whatever is right, and leave consequences to him who has the disposal of them.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample under foot.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
My experience is that the teachers we need most are the people we’re living with right now.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
Right is right only when entire.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The real compensation of a right action is inherent in having performed it.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren’t grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
—Cynthia Ozick (b.1928) American Novelist, Short-story Writer, Essayist
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
The fears of one class of men are not the measure of the rights of another.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
To be right, a person must do one of two things: either he must learn to have God in his work and hold fast to him there, or he must give up his work altogether. Since, however, we cannot live without activities that are both human and various, we must learn to keep God I everything we do, and whatever the job or place, keep on with him, letting nothing stand in our way.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
Let no man be sorry he has done good, because others have done evil! If a man has acted right, he has done well, though alone; if wrong, the sanction of all mankind will not justify him.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
What is the use of running when we are on the wrong.
—Common Proverb
If you have always done it that way, it’s probably wrong.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Things have got to be wrong in order that they may be deplored.
—Alfred Whitney Griswold (1906–63) American Historian, Educator
Do you want to be right more than you want to know the truth? It’s the truth that set me free. Acceptance, peace, and less attachment to a world of suffering are all effects of doing The Work. They’re not the goals. Do The Work for the love of freedom, for the love of truth.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
In reality, there is no such thing as a “should” or a “shouldn’t”. These are only thoughts that we impose onto reality. The mind is like a carpenter’s level. When the bubble is off to one side—“It shouldn’t be raining”—we can know that the mind is caught in its thinking. When the bubble is right in the middle—“It’s raining”—we can know that the surface level and the mind is accepting reality as it is. Without the “should” and “shouldn’t,” we can see reality as it is, and this leaves us free to act efficiently, clearly, and sanely. Asking “What’s the reality of it?” can help bring the mind out of its story, back into the real world.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist