Principle is a passion for truth and right.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Important principles may and must be inflexible.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The value of a principle is the number of things it will explain; and there is no good theory of a disease which does not at once suggest a cure.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
To abandon oneself to principles is really to die—and to die for an impossible love which is the contrary of love.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.
—Richard Feynman (1918–88) American Physicist
Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.
—Dee Hock (1920–2022) American Businessman
Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
It’s easy to have principles when you’re rich. The important thing is to have principles when you’re poor.
—Ray Kroc (1902–84) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
You can’t live principals you can’t understand.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
One thing I certainly never was made for, and that is to put principles on and off at the dictation of a party, as a lackey changes his livery at his master’s command.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
He who floats with the current, who does not guide himself according to higher principles, who has no ideal, no convictions-such a man is a mere article of the world’s furniture-a thing moved, instead of a living and moving being-an echo, not a voice.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Always vote for a principle, though you vote alone, and you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of government and I will lead it as party of government.
—Tony Blair (b.1953) British Statesman
If I simply lived the principles that appeared to be truth for me, I would touch the lives of those I was destined to touch.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
Men of principle are always bold, but those who are bold are not always men of principle.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
You do the policy, I’ll do the politics.
—Dan Quayle (b.1947) American Head of State, Politician, Elected Rep
Expedients are for an hour, but principles are for the ages. Just because the rains descend, and the winds blow, we cannot afford to build on the shifting sands.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The principles which men give to themselves end by overwhelming their noblest intentions.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
Principal is a passion for truth!
—Unknown
The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
The change we personally experience from time to time, we obstinately deny to our principles.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–95) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
What is the essence and the life of character?. Principle, integrity, independence, or, as one of our great old writers has it, “That inbred loyalty unto virtue which can serve her without a livery.”
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Inventor
Americans are willing to go to enormous trouble and expense defending their principles with arms, very little trouble and expense advocating them with words. Temperamentally we are ready to die for certain principles (or, in the case of overripe adults, send youngsters to die), but we show little inclination to advertise the reasons for dying.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
If one sticks too rigidly to one’s principles, one would hardly see anybody.
—Agatha Christie (1890–1976) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Prosperity is the best protector of principle.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Feelings come and go, like light troops following the victory of the present; but principles, like troops of the line, are undisturbed and stand fast.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
The American doctrinaire is the converse of the American demagogue, and, in this way, is scarcely less injurious to the public. The first deals in poetry, the last in cant. He is as much a visionary on one side, as the extreme theoretical democrat is a visionary on the other.
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) American Novelist
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