#principle

Some people can be so generous when they give nothing away! ↗

— Rossana Condoleo

#generous-people #gratitude #lack-of-values #life-lessons #people

I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold the principles received by me when I was sane, not mad -- as I am now. Laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth -- so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane -- quite insane, with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations are all I have at this hour to stand; there I plant my foot. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#morality #principles #steadfastness #respect

Even if it were possible to cast my horoscope in this one life, and to make an accurate prediction about my future, it would not be possible to 'show' it to me because as soon as I saw it my future would change by definition. This is why Werner Heisenberg's adaptation of the Hays Office—the so-called principle of uncertainty whereby the act of measuring something has the effect of altering the measurement—is of such importance. In my case the difference is often made by publicity. For example, and to boast of one of my few virtues, I used to derive pleasure from giving my time to bright young people who showed promise as writers and who asked for my help. Then some profile of me quoted someone who disclosed that I liked to do this. Then it became something widely said of me, whereupon it became almost impossible for me to go on doing it, because I started to receive far more requests than I could respond to, let alone satisfy. Perception modifies reality: when I abandoned the smoking habit of more than three decades I was given a supposedly helpful pill called Wellbutrin. But as soon as I discovered that this was the brand name for an antidepressant, I tossed the bottle away. There may be successful methods for overcoming the blues but for me they cannot include a capsule that says: 'Fool yourself into happiness, while pretending not to do so.' I should actually want my mind to be strong enough to circumvent such a trick. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#assistance #bupropion #depression #future #happiness

The money in the schools overpowers the principles of the purpose. ↗

— Miroslav Vitous

#principles #purpose #schools

A house must be built on solid foundations if it is to last. The same principle applies to man, otherwise he too will sink back into the soft ground and becomes swallowed up by the world of illusion. ↗

— Sai Baba

#back #becomes #built #foundations #ground

This I consider to be a valuable principle in life: Do no thing in excess. ↗

— Terence

#excess #i #life #principle #thing

The universal order and the personal order are nothing but different expressions and manifestations of a common underlying principle. ↗

— Marcus Aurelius

#different #expressions #manifestations #nothing #order

The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition. ↗

— John Acton

#absolute power #authority #based #between #choices

I hate liberality - nine times out of ten it is cowardice, and the tenth time lack of principle. ↗

— Henry Addington

#hate #i #lack #liberality #nine

Fascism is itself less 'ideological', in so far as it openly proclaims the principle of domination that is elsewhere concealed. ↗

— Theodor Adorno

#domination #elsewhere #far #fascism #ideological