Inspirational Quotations

But he who has cleansed himself from sin, is well grounded in all virtues, and regards also temperance and truth, he is indeed worthy of the yellow dress.
—The Dhammapada (Buddhist Anthology of Verses)

I’m not convinced that the world is in any worse shape than it ever was. It’s just that in this age of almost instantaneous communication, we bear the weight of problems our forefathers only read about after they were solved.
—Burton Hillis (William E. Vaughan) (American Columnist)

To all that come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America… with hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.
—Walt Disney (American Entrepreneur)

With each success your faith in the law will grow stronger, until you reach the point of total conviction. Then you will be invincible.
—Roger McDonald (Australian Novelist)

Perfection can be achieved only through devotion, for devotion is the basis of all success.
—Chanakya Neeti

Never compromise yourself, it’s all you’ve got.
—Janis Joplin

Happiness depends on what you can give, Not on what you can get.
—Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Teacher)

Life does not reward us for effort expended.
—Anonymous

Do as you would be done by.
—Common Proverb

The human spirit needs to accomplish, to achieve, to triumph to be happy.
—Ben Stein (American Lawyer)

Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life. Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too.
—Meryl Streep (American Actor)

Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.
—Erik Erikson (German-born American Psychologist)

Let go of the idea that your problem is permanent. Few troubles last forever. And those that cannot be solved can usually be managed.
—Unknown

It is the individual who knows how little they know about themselves who stands the most reasonable chance of finding out something about themselves before they die.
—S. I. Hayakawa (Canadian-born American Academic)

No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (American Civil Rights Leader)

The real men of achievement are people|who have the heroism to fuel more and more enthusiasm in their work,|when they face more and more difficulties.
—Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Teacher)

Some people are nice as a way of compensating for their not being good.
—Marty Nemko (American Career Coach, Author)

Do not appease thy fellow in his hour of anger; do not comfort him while the dead is still laid out before him; do not question him in the hour of his vow; and do not strive to see him in his hour of misfortune.
—The Talmud (Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith)

A true friend is not like the rain which pours and goes away. A true friend is like the air, sometimes silent but always around you.
—Anonymous

The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny.
—Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (French Politician)

It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.
—Ram Dass (American Hindu Teacher)

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
—Baruch Spinoza (Dutch Philosopher)

Your goal must not be to impress but to accomplish. That usually demands bringing out the best in others.
—Marty Nemko (American Career Coach, Author)

Private and public life are subject to the same rules; and truth and manliness are two qualities that will carry you through this world much better than policy, or tact, or expediency, or any other word that was ever devised to conceal or mystify a deviation from the straight line.
—Robert E. Lee (American Military Leader)

A rich man is not one who has the most,|but one who needs the least.
—Unknown

Perhaps nobody ever accomplishes all that he feels lies in him to do but nearly every one who tries his power touches the walls of his being occasionally, and learns about how far to attempt to spring.
—Charles Dudley Warner (American Essayist)

The secret of living a life of excellence is merely a matter of thinking thoughts of excellence. Really, it’s a matter of programming our minds with the kind of information that will set us free.
—Chuck Swindoll (American Christian Pastor)

If we are to find our way across toubled waters, we are better served by the company of those who have built bridges, who have moved beyond despair and inertia.
—Marilyn Ferguson (American Author)

If success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do… how would I be? What would I do?
—Buckminster Fuller (American Inventor, Philosopher)

The function of values is to give us the illusion of purpose in life.
—Dero A. Saunders (American Journalist)

Intellectual despair results in neither weakness nor dreams, but in violence. It is only a matter of knowing how to give vent to one’s rage; whether one only wants to wander like madmen around prisons, or whether one wants to overturn them.
—Georges Bataille (French Philosopher)

The path of sound credence is through the thick forest of skepticism.
—George Jean Nathan (American Drama Critic)

Our background and circumstances may influence who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
—Unknown

The words of wicked people are totally different from their thoughts and their actions totally disagree with their words. On the other hand, great people are consistent in their thoughts, words and deeds.
—Hitopadesha

If a man offend a harmless, pure, and innocent person, the evil falls back upon that fool, like light dust thrown up against the wind.
—The Dhammapada (Buddhist Anthology of Verses)

Key to being liked: While retaining integrity, do more agreeing, amplifying, empathizing. do less arguing, one-upping, yes-butting.
—Marty Nemko (American Career Coach, Author)

Science is the systematic classification of experience.
—George Henry Lewes (English Philosopher)

Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.
—Groucho Marx (American Actor)

Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is…The only problem in your life is your mind’s resistance to life as it unfolds.
—Dan Millman (American Children’s Books Writer)

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
—Vince Lombardi (American Sportsperson)

The most important of life’s battles is the one we fight daily in the silent chambers of the soul.
—David O. McKay (American Mormon Religious Leader)

Everyone points to the other man, who, according to him, is happier. But the only one, who has the courage to declare that he is truly happy, is he who has relinquished all his passions and hungers from within.
—Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Teacher)

True consistency, that of the prudent and the wise, is to act in conformity with circumstances, and not to act always the same way under a change of circumstances.
—John C. Calhoun (American Head of State)

This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. If all of us think for the society and the country, all our problems will be solved.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time. It’s just that the others are behind the time.
—Martha Graham (American Choreographer)

Only the insane take themselves quite seriously.
—Max Beerbohm

Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.
—Cecil B. DeMille (American Film Producer)

I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.
—John Cage (American Composer)

Nothing is so common as unsuccessful men with talent. They lack only determination.
—Chuck Swindoll (American Christian Pastor)

Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side.
—Anonymous

There is strength in numbers and unity. That is the way you can kill an enemy. Just look at the collection of straws that make the roof of the hut. They protect us from even the heavy rains, alone none of those straws can do the same.
—Subhashita Manjari

Wisdom is the assimilated knowledge in us, gained from an intelligent estimation and close study of our own direct and indirect experience in the world.
—Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Teacher)

You’re not a human being until you value something more than the life of your body. And the greater the thing you live and die for the greater you are.
—Orson Scott Card (American Author)

Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True power if within, and it is available to you now.
—Eckhart Tolle (German Spiritual Writer)

A whipping never hurts so much as the thought that you are being whipped.
—E. W. Howe (American Novelist)

Excessive anger is a great harm, but greater still is the unmindfulness born of excessive pleasure. Just as perpetual poverty slowly slays one’s knowledge, so does frequent forgetfulness destroy one’s prestige.
—Thirukkural

Great minds think alike.
—Common Proverb

It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.
—E. E. Cummings (American Children’s Books Writer)

Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.
—Colin Powell (American Military Leader)

Education commences at the mother’s knee, and every word spoken in the hearing of little children tends toward the formation of character.—Let parents always bear this in mind.
—Hosea Ballou (American Universalist Clergyman)

Courtesy is the oil that greases the wheels of life.
—Unknown

If frequency with which you cite an education credential does not decrease over the course of your life, you’re not accomplishing very much.
—Ben Casnocha (American Entrepreneur, Investor)

An honor is not diminished for being shared.
—Lois McMaster Bujold (American Novelist)

From tonight onwards, take complete control of your life. Decide, once and for all, to be the master of your fate. Run your own race. Discover your calling and you will start to experience the ecstasy of an inspired life.
—Robin Sharma (Canadian Writer, Motivational Speaker)

Don’t confuse tact with cowardice. Sometimes, it’s wise to speak up boldly.
—Marty Nemko (American Career Coach, Author)

A closed mind is a good thing to lose.
—Muriel Strode (American Author, Businesswoman)

We tell lies when we are afraid… afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.
—Ted Williams (American Sportsperson)

It is well for people who think to change their minds occasionally in order to keep them clean. For those who do not think, it is best at least to rearrange their prejudices once in a while.
—Luther Burbank (American Botanist)

Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress.
—Coco Chanel (French Fashion Designer)

The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.
—Marian Anderson (American Singer)

Where at all ethically possible, we must give others hope. Without it, a person figuratively or even literally dies.
—Marty Nemko (American Career Coach, Author)

Never mind your happiness; do your duty.
—Will Durant (American Historian)

He that lives long suffers much.
—Common Proverb

The hardest type of criticism to take is about self-perceived strengths. Yet this is the most important to hear.
—Ben Casnocha (American Entrepreneur, Investor)

We are rich only through what we give; and poor only through what we refuse and keep.
—Sophie Swetchine (Russian Christian Mystic)

In this age of specialization men who thoroughly know one field are often incompetent to discuss another.
—Richard Feynman (American Physicist)

True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one’s own the suffering and joys of others.
—Andre Gide (French Novelist)

Yes, it’s better to suspend judgment rather than embrace error. But agnostic, neutral thinkers have little to say and less to teach.
—Ben Casnocha (American Entrepreneur, Investor)

A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.
—Helen Keller (American Author)

Misery is a communicable disease.
—Martha Graham (American Choreographer)

Do not stand in a place of danger trusting in miracles.
—Arabic Proverb

The milk fed to a snake only increases its venom. Similarly, the advice given to a fool leads to aggravation and not peace.
—Hitopadesha

Gratitude and treachery are merely the two extremities of the same procession. You have seen all of it that is worth staying for when the band and the gaudy officials have gone by.
—Mark Twain (American Humorist)

The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucking their tongues. The world as it is needs those who will love it enough to change it, with what they have, where they are.
—Robert Fulghum (American Unitarian Universalist Author)

A great deal more is known than has been proved.
—Richard Feynman (American Physicist)

It is a mistake to think that moving fast is the same as actually going somewhere.
—Steve Goodier

The tragedy of life is what dies within a man while he still lives.
—Albert Schweitzer (French Theologian)

Enjoying the joys of others and suffering with them–these are the best guides for man.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.
—John C. Maxwell (American Christian Professional Speaker)

Happiness includes chiefly the idea of satisfaction after full honest effort. No one can possibly be satisfied and no one can be happy who feels that in some paramount affairs he failed to take up the challenge of life.
—Arnold Bennett (British Novelist)

A stream of tasteful water, having flown into the sea, becomes saline and thus undrinkable. For this simple reason, a wise man should never associate with one of wicked and impure soul.
—Subhashita Manjari

Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.
—George Jean Nathan (American Drama Critic)

The secret of success behind all men of achievement, lies in the faculty of applying their intellect in all their activities, without being mislead by any surging emotions or feelings. The secret of success in life lies in keeping the head above the storms of the heart.
—Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Teacher)

It is great wealth to a soul to live frugally with a contented mind.
—Lucretius (Roman Poet)

The actions of a great man are an inspiration for others. Whatever he does becomes a standard for others to follow.
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

Today marks the birthday of Alexander Pope (1688–1744,) one of the most vivid poets and extraordinary satirists to have ever written in the English language.

Pope was born Catholic in Protestant England, so he was denied access to the best schools and a university. His aunt taught him to read and a priest taught him Greek and Latin. At age eight, Pope was captivated by the works of Homer. Later, in his thirties, he published English translations of Homer’s Illiad (1720) and Odyssey (1726,) now considered Pope’s greatest literary accomplishments.

Pope’s first literary success came just before his 23rd birthday when he published a 744-line poem called An Essay on Criticism (1711) about the history of literature. Not only did this poem make Pope famous for his attack of contemporaneous literary critics, but it also became one of the most quoted poems in the English language. This poem comprises such prominent adages as, “A little learning is a dangerous thing,” “To err is human, to forgive, divine,” and “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

After contracting spinal tuberculosis at the age of 12, Pope became hunchbacked and crippled. He never grew beyond 4’6″ in height and remained in frail health throughout his life. His adversaries derided his physical appearance as much as they did his works of satire. Pope’s other major works include The Rape of the Lock (1714), The Dunciad (1728), and An Essay on Man (1734.)

Pope was the first English poet who financially supported himself through only his writing. He was also the first English writer to have translations of his poems into other languages and become famous all over Europe—all during his lifetime. He is the second-most frequently quoted writer in the English language after Shakespeare.

Inspirational Quotations by Alexander Pope

Pride is still aiming at the best houses: Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; aspiring to be angels men rebel.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Be thou the first true merit to befriend, his praise is lost who stays till all commend.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

To err is human, to forgive divine.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Talk what you will of taste, you will find two of a face as soon as two of a mind.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

To be angry, is to revenge the fault of others upon ourselves.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

He serves me most, who serves his country best.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

There is a majesty in simplicity which is far above the quaintness of wit.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Two purposes in human nature rule. Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Remembrance and reflection how allied. What thin partitions divides sense from thought.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Ten censure wrong, for one that writes amiss.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

An honest man is the noblest work of God.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Get place and wealth, if possible with grace; if not, by any means get wealth and place.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

When we are young, we are slavishly employed in procuring something whereby we may live comfortably when we grow old; and when we are old, we I perceive it is too late to live as we proposed.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

False happiness is like false money; it passes for a time as well as the true, and serves some ordinary occasions; but when it is brought to the touch, we find the lightness and alloy, and feel the loss.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

‘Tis education forms the common mind: just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

I believe no one qualification is so likely to make a good writer, as the power of rejecting his own thoughts.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Be silent always when you doubt your sense.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

True politeness consists in being easy one’s self, and in making every one about one as easy as one can.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow. Our wiser sons, no doubt will think us so.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

I would tear out my own heart if it had no better disposition than to love only myself, and laugh at all my neighbors.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

There is nothing meritorious but virtue and friendship.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Fondly we think we honor merit then, When we but praise ourselves in other men.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Some old men, by continually praising the time of their youth, would almost persuade us that there were no fools in those days; but unluckily they are left themselves for examples.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

In faith and hope the world will disagree, but all mankind’s concern is charity.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Never elated when someone’s oppressed, never dejected when another one’s blessed.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

It is very natural for a young friend and a young lover to think the persons they love have nothing to do but to please them.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

It is with our judgments as with our watches: no two go just alike, yet each believes his own.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Today marks the birthday of Bertie Charles Forbes (1880–1954,) American financial journalist and editor. Forbes was the founder of the Forbes business magazine and publishing empire.

Born a poor country boy in Scotland, Forbes started work as a printer’s apprentice at age 14. He soon became a financial journalist in England, and progressively graduated into the roles of reporter, editor, and publisher first in South Africa and then in New York. In 1916, he successfully started the Forbes magazine at age 36 and became famous for writing profiles of business leaders. By 1946, Forbes reached a circulation of 100,000 and was popular not only for its analyses of business and economic trends, but also for Forbes’personal style of business journalism.

Forbes wrote several books including Finance, Business and the Business of Life (1915,) Men Who Are Making America (1917,) Forbes Epigrams (1922,) and 101 Unusual Experiences (1952.)

Inspirational Quotations by B C Forbes

The incontestable truth is that America has been built up by optimists, not by pessimists, but by men possessing courage, confidence in the nation’s destiny, by men willing to adventure, to shoulder risks terrifying to the timid.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

The human being who lives only for himself finally reaps nothing but unhappiness. Selfishness corrodes. Unselfishness ennobles, satisfies. Don’t put off the joy derivable from doing helpful, kindly things for others.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Whimpering never kept a leaking vessel from foundering. Vigorously manning the pumps has. Get busy with your head and hands, not your chin.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

What you have outside you counts less than what you have inside you.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

The man of fixed ingrained principles who has mapped out a straight course, and has the courage and self-control to adhere to it, does not find life complex. Complexities are all of our own making.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Money, or even power, can never yield happiness unless it be accompanied by the goodwill of others.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Opportunity rarely knocks on your door. Knock rather on opportunity’s door if you ardently wish to enter.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Thomas Edison reads not for entertainment but to increase his store of knowledge. He sucks in information as eagerly as the bee sucks honey from flowers. The whole world, so to speak, pours its wisdom into his mind. He regards it as a criminal waste of time to go through the slow and painful ordeal of ascertaining things for one’s self if these same things have already been ascertained and made available by others. In Edison’s mind knowledge is power.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

J.P. Morgan, then past 70, was asked by the son of an eminent father why he (Morgan) didn’t retire. “When did your father retire?” asked Mr. Morgan, without looking up from his desk. “In 1902.” “When did he die? Oh, at the end of 1904.” “Huh!” snapped Mr. Morgan, “If he had kept on working he would have been alive still. Work is God’s best medicine. It is God’s medicine for man.”
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

We must learn that to enjoy happiness we must conscientiously and continuously seek to spread happiness. Selfishness is suicidal to happiness.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

You have no idea how big the other fellow’s troubles are.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Opportunity can benefit no man who has not fitted himself to seize it and use it. Opportunity woos the worthy, shuns the unworthy. Prepare yourself to grasp opportunity and opportunity is likely to come your way. It is not so fickle, capricious and unreasoning as some complain.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

There is more genuine joy in climbing the hill of success, even though sweat may be spent and toes may be stubbed, than in aimlessly sliding down the path to failure. If a straight, honorable path has been chosen, the gaining of the summit yields lasting satisfaction. The morass of failure, if reached through laziness, indifference or other avoidable fault, yields nothing but ignominy and sorrow for self and family and friends.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

The real friend is he or she who can share all our sorrow and double our joys.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Life is just an endless chain of judgements…. The more imperfect our judgement, the less perfect our success.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Tell me how a young man spends his evenings and I will tell you how far he is likely to go in the world. The popular notion is that a youth’s progress depends upon how he acts during his working hours. It doesn’t. It depends far more upon how he utilizes his leisure…. If he spends it in harmless idleness, he is likely to be kept on the payroll, but that will be about all. If he diligently utilizes his own time … to fit himself for more responsible duties, then the greater responsibilities-and greater rewards-are almost certain to come to him.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Lady Luck generally woos those who earnestly, enthusiastically, unremittingly woo her.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

The man without religion is as a ship without a rudder.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Our future and our fate lie in our wills more than in our hands, for our hands are but the instruments of our wills.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

The man who is intent on making the most of his opportunities is too busy to bother about luck.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

The victors of the battles of tomorrow will be those who can best harness thought to action. From office boy to statesman, the prizes will be for those who most effectively exert their brains, who take deep, earnest and studious counsel of their minds, who stamp themselves as thinkers.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Jealousy… is a mental cancer.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Many a man thinks he is patient when, in reality, he is indifferent.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

The man who has done his level best, and who is conscious that he has done his best, is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Diamonds are only lumps of coal that stuck to their jobs.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

A price has to be paid for success. Almost invariably those who have reached the summits worked harder and longer, studied and planned more assiduously, practiced more self-denial, overcame more difficulties than those of us who have not risen so far.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Mediocre men wait for opportunity to come to them. Strong, able, alert men go after opportunity.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Ambition means longing and striving to attain some purpose. Therefore, there are as many brands of ambition as there are human aspirations.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

It is when things go hardest, when life becomes most trying, that there is greatest need for having a fixed goal. When few comforts come from without, it is all the more necessary to have a fount to draw from within.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Madame Curie didn’t stumble upon radium by accident. She searched and experimented and sweated and suffered years before she found it. Success rarely is an accident.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)

Honesty is the cornerstone of character. The honest man or woman seeks not merely to avoid criminal or illegal acts, but to be scrupulously fair, upright, fearless in both action and expression. Honesty pays dividends both in dollars and in peace of mind.
—B. C. Forbes (Scottish-born American Journalist)