Terry Pratchett Quotes

States are supposed to have interests but no principles. I have principles but no interests.

Leadership is not manifested by coercion, even against the resented. Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any methods.

There is a fundamental question we all have to face. How are we to live our lives; by what principles and moral values will we be guided and inspired?

Principles are what allow you to live a life consistent with those values. Principles connect your values to your actions.

The problem with most leaders today is they don't stand for anything. Leadership implies movement toward something, and convictions provide that direction. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything

Values are not just words, values are what we live by. They're about the causes that we champion and the people we fight for.

Leadership, in short, is power governed by principle, directed toward raising people to their highest levels of personal motive and social morality.

It is this language of values which I hope to bring to my books. . . . I want to bring values to those who have not been valued, and I want to etch those values in terms of the ideal. Young people need ideals which identify them, and their lives, as central . . . guideposts which tell them what they can be, should be, and indeed are.

If you don't have good people, and you don't have a good process and you don't have, at some level, the basic reverence for [presidential] office, and an understanding of the incredible responsibilities and obligations, then, I think you can get into trouble.

The establishment uses that rationale all the time, and that's why we do what we do. But leadership requires some understanding that you can say no. People have base instincts, but the transcendent also appeal to them.

There must be a priority of values in all our lives.

Yes, America must do the right thing, but to provide moral leadership, America must do it in the right way, too.

To make your people understand what righteousness is, this must be the basis of all your teaching.

I think the greater responsibility, in terms of morality, is where leadership begins.

Character in leadership is the most important balance for leadership. Without character, leaders have no safety. Leadership has no protection without character.

In politics, the people I most despise are those who have no values.

All I can go on is my own value system.

Just because people are in authority, if it doesn't seem right, don't do it. If it violates your own principles, don't do it.

Let them hate me, provided they respect my conduct.

I have values I believe in and certain things I stand for.

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

I have principles in my professional and personal life as to how things are done.

Every leader has the responsibility to hone his or her integrity. Many times, there are integrity traps that have a tendency to catch well-meaning leaders off guard.

History has shown that one cannot legislate a culture of integrity. And yet, one of the paramount responsibilities and challenges of corporate leadership is to ensure such a culture.

If principles don't determine what you are going to pass or do, then power will.