When someone is nasty or treats you poorly, don’t take it personally. It says nothing about you, but a lot about them.
The key to success is effort. The bigger the goal, the greater the effort.
The choices you make in your life will make your life. Choose wisely.
You can’t escape moral judgment through a legal loop hole.
Whatever you do, make a difference. Earn the right to look back at something and say, ‘I did that.’
Our character is revealed by how we treat people who cannot help us or hurt us.
Ethics is doing more than the law requires and less than the law allows.
Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day.
You don’t have to be sick to get better.
Personal integrity is important, not because it gets us what we want, but because it helps us be what we want.
I am not and never will be perfect. I am not always as honest, respectful, responsible, fair or as kind as I should be. All I can do is what I should do: strive every day, with every decision to be the best person I can be. I don’t expect to be perfect but I know I can be better.
Ordinary people, even weak people, can do extraordinary things through temporary courage generated by a situation. But the person of character does not need the situation to generate his courage. It is a part of his being and a standard approach to all life’s challenges.
Honesty doesn’t always pay, but dishonesty always costs.
Ethics doesn’t require us to ignore our self-interests or demand a life of self-sacrifice. It requires that we know the difference between what we want and what we should do.
Creating a child takes no love or skill; being a parent requires lots of both.
It’s a great joy but no test of love or commitment to take your son to a ball game. You really prove your credentials as a good dad when you are willing to take your daughter shopping – more than once.
Everything you do sends a message about who you are and what you value.
It isn’t the absence of conscience or values that prevents us from being all we should be, it is simply the lack of moral courage.
Neither heredity nor environment determine character. But whether we give in to or overcome the negative messages we are exposed to as we wend our way through life is often determined by whether our parents, teachers, mentors and friends exposed us to good examples and morally inspiring ideas.
Happiness is the peace of mind that comes from feeling that I am living a worthy life in the company of people I love and in the service of something bigger than myself.