principle 2

principle

  

Let then our first act every morning be to make
the following resolve for the day:
I shall not fear anyone on earth.
I shall fear only God.
I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
I shall conquer untruth by truth.
And in resisting untruth I shall put up with all suffering.

Mohandas
Gandhi

 
Give the best you have received from the past to the best that you may come to know in the future.  Accept life daily not as a cup to be drained but as a chalice to be filled with whatsoever things are honest, pure, lovely, and of good report.
Making a living is best undertaken as a part of the more important business of making a life.     Every now and again take a good look at something not made of hands--a mountain, a star, the turn of a stream.  There will come to you wisdom
and patience and solace and, above all, the assurance that you are not alone in the world.

Sidney Lovett

   

My creed is this:
Justice is the only worship;
Love is the only priest;
Ignorance is the only slavery;
Happiness is the only good;
The time to be happy is now,
The place to be happy is here,
The way to be happy is
to make others so.

Robert Ingersoll

  
  

It is often easier to fight for one's principles
than to live up to them.

Adlai Stevenson

  

Jean Paul
Sartre

Humans are condemned to be free; because once thrown
into the world, they are responsible for everything they do.

  
Science has taught us how to put the atom to work.
But to make it work for good instead of for evil lies
in the domain dealing with the principles of human duty.

Bernard M. Baruch

  
  

I believe that every right implies a responsibility;
every opportunity an obligation; 
every possession a duty.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

  

  

To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.

Confucius

  

It is not alone what we do, but also what
we do not do, for which we are accountable.

Moliere

There is only one real failure in life that is possible,
and that is, not to be true to the best one knows.

Frederick W. Farrar

  
i suppose that one of the biggest surprises i've encountered as an adult is just how difficult it is to live by one's principles.  the perfect example of this can be seen on the road--years ago i decided that i really had no right to break the laws of the road, especially since i spent four years in the army, supposedly to uphold the freedoms and responsibilities of this country.  it sounds easy, doesn't it?  just obey the traffic laws.

but it's not easy at all.  i go the speed limit--not ten miles under--and i can't tell you just how often i get tailgated, just how often people put my life and the lives of others in my car in danger by passing on double yellows or passing on the right (even in residential areas where there's only one lane--people have passed in the parking lane!), or how often i've been flipped off by people who are in such a hurry that they can't even respect my right to obey the law--no, my obligation to obey the law.  it's not a choice, or at least it shouldn't be.

but the main point is that when i want to follow my principles of obeying the laws of the country i live in, i get harassed by people who don't respect those laws.  when i speak up for what is right, others who disagree try to counter by putting me down rather than responding to my arguments or points.  when a friend does something wrong and i say something, i risk losing a friend.  if a boss does something unethical and i say something, i risk losing a job.

following our principle has been a main tenet of virtually all great religious and spiritual teachers, yet very few people are willing to focus a great deal of effort on doing so.  this should be, in my mind, one of our highest priorities, for the benefits to us and to those around us are great.  people who know me trust me, and that's one of the parts of my life that i'm most proud of.  when i pass a police officer with a radar gun, i smile and wave--they have enough stress in their lives with the people who speed and then lie about it, and i know i'm not adding to that stress.  my employers trust me to do what i know is right, but they also know that i'm more than willing to examine my actions to see if i might not have been mistaken in some way.

people who consistently put their principles aside can't even trust themselves, when all is said and done, and i can't think of anything sadder than that.

  

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Integrity is not a conditional word.  It doesn't blow in the wind or change
with the weather.  It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look
in there and see a person who won't cheat, then you know you never will.

John D. MacDonald

 

We get so much in the habit of wearing a disguise before others
that we eventually appear disguised before ourselves.

Jim Bishop

 

No person, for any considerable time, can wear one face
to him or herself and another to the multitude
without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

 

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