Mutsuhito Meiji Quotes

To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

Moral values, and a culture and a religion, maintaining these values are far better than laws and regulations.

Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.

I've watched my duty, straight an' true, an' tried to do it well; Part of the time kept heaven in view, An' part steered clear of hell.

No human being or society ... ever did or ever will come to much unless their conduct was governed and guided by the love of some ethical ideal

When you seek the gain of the fear of god, exalt god and bless the king.

Law is not self-executing. Unfortunately, at times its execution rests in the hands of those who are faithless to it. And even when its enforcement is committed to those who revere it, law merely deters some human beings from offending, and punishes other human beings for offending. This does not make men good. This task can be performed only by ethics or religion or morality.

It is necessary to distinguish between the virtue and the vice of obedience.

To be good is noble but to show others how to be good is nobler.

We don't put the Ten Commandments in school anymore. We just neglect everything and people act like the Ten Commandments is something so terrible. I mean, it's a way to live. I think we all could agree on what they say.

I always remember the teachings of our ancestors: respect for God, teacher, government, and both parents. Even after I became president, I have not changed in this matter in the slightest. I hold these teachings in high esteem, and I believe in their truth.

To be moral, correct, and virtuous is to be obedient to an old established law and custom.

To do right is wonderful. To teach others to do right is even more wonderful--and much easier.

If you are following the dharma no matter what you do it is moral.

The religious man fears, the man of honor scorns, to do an ill action.

In justice is all virtues found in sum.

The superior man, extensively studying all learning, and keeping himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety, may thus likewise not overstep what is right.

Whilst that the childe is young, let him be instructed in vertue and lytterature.

Great souls are always loyally submissive, reverent to what is over them: only small mean souls are otherwise.

Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.

Even a little of dharma saves one from many a pitfall.

If virtue precede us every step will be safe.

I think that every educator, indeed every human being, is concerned with what is true and what is not; what experiences to cherish and which ones to avoid; and how best to relate to other human beings. We differ in how conscious we are of these questions; how reflective we are about our own stances; whether we are aware of how these human virtues are threatened by critiques (philosophical, cultural) and by technologies (chiefly the digital media). A good educator should help us all to navigate our way in this tangled web of virtues.

I may be stupid, as you say, to believe in honour and friendship and loyalty without price. But these are virtues to be cherished, for without them we are no more than beasts roaming the land.

The really royal calling of the philosopher (as expressed by Alcuin the Anglo-Saxon): To correct what is wrong, and strengthen the right, and raise what is holy.