The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.
Interpretation
True success is measured not just by wealth but by one's ethical standards.
This quote emphasizes that achieving financial success at the expense of one's moral principles constitutes a failure. It suggests that integrity and conscience are fundamental elements of true success, and one cannot truly be considered a success if they have compromised their values to gain material wealth.
In practice
This quote is perfect to use during a business ethics seminar to highlight the importance of integrity in achieving success.
How you start is important, very important, but in the end it is how you finish that counts. It is easier to be a self-starter than a self-finisher. The victor in the race is not the one who dashes off swiftest but the one who leads at the finish. In the race for success, speed is less important than stamina. The sticker outlasts the sprinter in life's race. In America we breed many hares but not so many tortoises.
I have known not a few men who, after reaching the summits of business success, found themselves miserable on attaining retirement age. They were so exclusively engrossed in their day to day affairs that they had no time for friend making.
Jealousy is an inner consciousness of one's own inferiority. It is a mental cancer.
He is a wise man who seeks by every legitimate means to make all the money he can honestly, for money can do so many worthwhile things in this world, not merely for one's self but for others. But he is an unmitigated fool who imagines for a moment that it is more important to make the money than to make it honestly. One of the advantages of possessing money is that it facilitates one's independence and mental attitude. The man head over heels in debt is more slave than independent.
Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us to think of others rather than of ourselves. It directs our thoughts to giving.
Opportunity rarely knocks on your door. Knock rather on opportunity's door if you ardently wish to enter.
You cannot predict literary success; the only way you can possibly aim for it is to do your thing and do it well.
I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well.
Every person who has grown to any degree of usefulness, every person who has grown to distinction, almost without exception has been a person who has risen by overcoming obstacles, by removing difficulties, by resolving that when he met discouragement he would not give up.
Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
The winner asks, "May I help?" The loser asks, "Do you expect me to do that?"
I have found that great people do have in common. . .an immense belief in themselves and in their mission. They also have gerat determination as well as an ability to work hard. At the crucial moment of decision, they draw on their accumulated wisdom. Above all, they have integrity.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.