Moral Fortitude Quotes

A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.

Courage is the most important of the virtues because it is the one that makes all the others possible.

Believe no evil till the evil's done

Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.

The greatest want of the world is the want of men - men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.

McKinley has no more backbone than a chocolate eclair.

It is better to die standing, than to live bending.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

The only way to survive among the evil and corrupt is to be even more wicked and more corrupt than they are!

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

I urge you to hold fast to your standards. I plead with you not to waver.

God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.

I hate cowardice; I will have nothing to do with cowards or political nonsense.

In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.

Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.

Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.

Great and good are seldom the same man.

How much truth does a spirit endure, how much truth does it dare?

… there are times of moral danger when the hardest virtuous resolution to form is flight, and when the most heroic bravery is flight.

Virtue can have naught to do with ease. . . . It craves a steep and thorny path.

One of the standards on which your happiness is based, now and in your future, is moral purity.

Wisdom and courage make mutual contributions to greatness.

People confuse goodness with weakness. It is weak people, not good people (goodness demands strength), who are taken advantage of.

A big part of honesty is self-discipline, personal resolve, and taking pride in who you are as a person and what each action means to your character.