Bob Greene Quotes

My personal code of conduct and compliance with a wide range of government ethics provisions have ensured that I have maintained ethical standards.

There are people who think that honesty is always the best policy. This is a superstition. There are times when the appearance of it is worth six of it.

I have learned that the ethics of the so-called markets can be different from what we learn at school. In day-to-day life you have stimulus to behave unethically, but in the long term it always pays off to be ethical.

Man's sense of Morality tends to decrease as his Power increases

There's a morality... I think there's a moral compass but whether that comes from religion or just from being a good person, and where one starts and the other begins... I'm a good person, I hope. But I'm never as good as I want to be, never as nice as I want to be, never as generous as I want to be.

In the end, I must proclaim that no good can be achieved of false means. For the substance of our existence is not in the achievement, but in the method.

People have no morals, I swear to God. The things that people do for ratings! It's unforgivable.

Morality is the thing upon which your friends smile, and immorality is the thing upon which they frown

You should be nice to people because it's better to be nice to people than mean to people, not because you think there's something in it for you.

Managers that always promise to 'make the numbers' will at some point be tempted to make up the numbers.

In every company which I have done strategic planning, the number-one value people choose is always integrity. The second values may be quality of products and services, caring about people, excellent customer service, profitability , innovation, entrepreneurship, and others. But integrity always comes first.

One cannot hold power and not use it.

The problem with making an extrinsic reward the only destination that matters is that some people will choose the quickest route there, even if it means taking the low road. Indeed, most of the scandals and misbehavior that have seemed endemic to modern life involve shortcuts.

She said, 'Believe it or not, I used to be idealistic.' I asked her what 'idealistic' meant. 'It means you live by what you think is right.' 'You don't do that anymore?' 'There are questions I don't ask anymore.

Ethics are more important than laws. Which means that the exact note is less important than the feeling of the note.

The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine.

A Warrior knows that the ends do not justify the means. Because there are no ends, there are only means.

If you pretend that business is beyond morality, that's the kind of morality you get.

It's very, very hard to speak truth to power when the truth is unpleasant. I think it's one of the toughest things especially a young person has to do and the only way you can do it is if you're willing to walk out the door if he doesn't take your advice. Or if you're willing to walk out the door if he goes over the line.

Sometimes being a leader isn’t about winning. Sometimes it’s about doing what’s right, instead of what’s powerful.

We need to educate students to be critical agents, to learn how to take risks, engage in thoughtful dialogue, and taking on the crucial issue what it means to be socially responsible.

I think that there are certain principles which should guide decision-making for a president. One such principle was that we're all God's children, and every life is precious. To me, that's a moral statement.

In this world laws are written for the lofty aim of "the common good" and then acted out in life on the basis of the common greed. In this world irrationality clings to man like his shadow so that the right things get done for the wrong reasons - afterwards, we dredge up the right reasons for justification. It is a world not of angels but of angles, where men speak of moral principles but act on power principles; a world where we are always moral and our enemies always immoral; a world where "reconciliation" means that when one side gets the power and the other side gets reconciled to it.

The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others.