Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Never did any soul do good, but it came readier to do the same again, with more enjoyment. Never was love, or gratitude, or bounty practised but with increasing joy, which made the practiser still more in love with the fair act.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–83) British Statesman
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
We ought to do good to others as simply and naturally as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Nothing leads to good that is not natural.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
What is good? All that enhances the feeling of power, the Will to Power, and the power itself in man. What is bad? All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is increasing—that resistance has been overcome. Not contentment, but more power; not peace at any price, but war; not virtue, but competence. The first principle of our humanism: The weak and the failures shall perish. They ought even to be helped to perish.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Beauty endures only for as long as it can be seen; goodness, beautiful today, will remain so tomorrow.
—Sappho (c.630–c.580 BCE) Greek Poet
It is impossible for good or evil to last forever; and hence it follows that the evil having lasted so long, the good must be now nigh at hand.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
I’ve never forgotten for long at a time that living is struggle. I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for—whether it’s a field, or a home, or a country.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
A good man is influenced by God himself, and has a kind of divinity within him; so it may be a question whether he goes to heaven, or heaven comes to him.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
To love the public, to study universal good, and to promote the interest of the whole world, as far as it lies in our power, is the height of goodness, and makes that temper which we call divine.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–83) British Statesman
It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better… while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren’t any other people living in the world.
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
It is only great souls that know how much glory there is in being good.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
In nothing do men approach so nearly to the gods as in doing good to men.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
An action is essentially good if the motive of the agent be good, regardless of the consequences.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
You are not very good if you are not better than your best friends imagine you to be.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn’t. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The devil himself is good when he is pleased.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
To be good, we must do good; and by doing good we take a sure means of being good, as the use and exercise of the muscles increase their power.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
A good man doubles the length of his existence; to have lived so as to look back with pleasure on our past life is to live twice.
—Martial (40–104) Ancient Roman Latin Poet
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Let a man be never so ungrateful or inhuman, he shall never destroy the satisfaction of my having done a good office.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Talking much is a sign of vanity, for the one who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
There never was law, or sect, or opinion did so much magnify goodness as the Christian religion doth.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Goodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.
—Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-American Novelist
Remember that the most difficult tasks are consummated, not by a single explosive burst of energy or effort, but by the constant daily application of the best you have within you.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
Goodness speaks in a whisper, evil shouts
—Tibetan Proverb
The first idea that the child must acquire, in order to be actively disciplined, is that of the difference between good and evil; and the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity.
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
Good order is the foundation of all good things.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
In the world of knowledge, the essential Form of Good is the limit of our inquiries, and can barely be perceived; but, when perceived, we cannot help concluding that it is in every case the source of all that is bright and beautiful—in the visible world giving birth to light and its master, and in the intellectual world dispensing, immediately and with full authority, truth and reason—and that whosoever would act wisely, either in private or in public, must set this Form of Good before his eyes.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.—It shows virtue in the fairest light; takes off, in some measure, from the deformity of vice; and makes even folly and impertinence supportable.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Good is a product of the ethical and spiritual artistry of individuals; it cannot be mass-produced.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
We all have known good critics, who have stamped out poet’s hopes; Good statesmen, who pulled ruin on the state; Good patriots, who, for a theory, risked a cause; Good kings, who disemboweled for a tax; Good Popes, who brought all good to jeopardy; Good Christians, who sat still in easy-chairs; And damned the general world for standing up. Now, may the good God pardon all good men!
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The good are heaven’s peculiar care.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
Amid life’s quests, there seems but worthy one: to do men good.
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world … By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Musician, Philosopher, Physician
Nature will not forgive those who fail to fulfill the law of their being. The law of human beings is wisdom and goodness, not unlimited acquisition.
—Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) American Educator