People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of personal integrity over the influence of external circumstances.
Michael Josephson's quote highlights that individuals of strong character act in alignment with their values and principles, irrespective of the potential impact their actions may have on the world. It asserts that true integrity comes from within; such individuals stand firm against societal pressures and remain steadfast in their commitment to doing what is right.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage students to uphold their values.
The way we treat people we think can't help or hurt us - like housekeepers, waiters, and secretaries - tells more about our character than how we treat people we think are important. How we behave when we think no one is looking or when we don't think we will get caught more accurately portrays our character than what we say or do in service of our reputations.
The assumption that spending more of the taxpayer's money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse. The black family- which survived slavery, discrimination, poverty, wars and depressions- began to come apart as the federal government moved in with its well-financed programs to βhelp.β
That doctrine of peace at any price has done more mischief than any I can well recall that have been afloat in this country. It has occasioned more wars than any of the most ruthless conquerors. It has disturbed and nearly destroyed that political equilibrium so necessary to the liberties and the welfare of the world.
Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist? - "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free."
Higher than the beasts, lower than the angels, stuck in our idiot Eden.
Nineteen thousand children [are] dying every day. Does it really matter that we're not walking past them in the street? Does it really matter that they're far away? I don't think it does make a morally relevant difference.
Because gender can be uncomfortable, there are easy ways to close this conversation. Some people will bring up evolutionary biology and apes, how female apes bow to male apes - that sort of thing. But the point is this: we are not apes. Apes also live in trees and eat earthworms. We do not.
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