Sayings about Principles
I have no set principles; I make adaptability to all circumstances my principle. ~ Japanese Proverbs
A man of high principles is someone who can watch a chess game without passing comment. ~ Chinese Proverbs
What’s got badly goes badly. ~ Irish Proverbs
The day of the storm is not the time for thatching your roof. ~ Irish Proverb
Vows made in storms are forgotten in calms. ~ English Proverbs
A puff of wind and popular praise weigh the same. ~ English Proverb
A good name is better than a precious stone. ~ Yiddish Proverbs
Quotations about Principles
Many people would rather fight for their principles than live up to them. ~ Author Unknown
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world. ~ Oscar Wilde
To abandon oneself to principles is really to die — and to die for an impossible love which is the contrary of love. ~ Albert Camus
Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help. ~ Georg Hegel
Man has no nobler function than to defend the truth. ~ Mahalia Jackson
Success is the ability to rise above principle. ~ Gerald Barzan
Principle is a passion for truth. ~ William Hazlitt
When one bases her life on principle, 99 percent of her decisions are already made. ~ Author Unknown
He who knows right principles is not equal to him who loves them. ~ Confucius
People with good intentions never give up! ~ Jane Smiley
Sacrifice money rather than principle. ~ Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild
Principles aren’t of much account anyway, except at election time. After that you hang them up to let them season. ~ Mark Twain
Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed. ~ Mark Twain
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. ~ Dwight David Eisenhower
Don’t be concerned that you have no position; be concerned how you may fit yourself to occupy one. . ~ Confucius
You can’t learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. ~ W. Somerset Maugham
I find that principles have no real force except when one is well fed. ~ Mark Twain
The value of a principle is the number of things it will explain; and there is no good theory of disease which does not at once suggest a cure. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have all reverence for principles which grow out of sentiments; but as to sentiments which grow out of principles, you shall scarcely build a house of cards thereon. ~ Hermann Jacobi
Nobody ever did anything very foolish except from some strong principle. ~ Lord Melbourne
A good message will always find a messenger. ~ Amelia E. Barr
You can’t live principals you can’t understand. ~ Stephen R. Covey
We may be personally defeated, but our principles never. ~ William Lloyd Garrison
Still it is a fine sight to see a man who has never changed his principles. ~ Gabriel Claude Jules Favre
You may be flexible on strategy, but must remain consistent on principle! ~ Brubaker Movie
The principles we live by, in business and in social life, are the most important part of happiness. ~ Harry Harrison
People must have righteous principals in the first, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions. ~ Martin Luther
A man is usually more careful of his money than of his principles. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
Our principles are the springs of our actions. Our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles. ~ Red Skelton
It is in vain to expect any advantage from our profession of the truth, if we be not sincerely just and honest in our actions. ~ James Sharp
Expedients are for the hour; principles for the ages. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Principles cannot die. ~ Wade Hampton
The principles which men give to themselves end by overwhelming their noblest intentions. ~ Albert Camus
If they be principles evident of themselves, they need nothing to evidence them. ~ John Tillotson
There are two great forces in this world — good and evil; and no man is worth his salt unless he has lost and won battle for a principle. ~ A. P. Gouthey
Dangerous principles impose upon our understanding, emasculate our spirits, and spoil our temper. ~ Jeremy Collier
It’s no good saying one thing and doing another. ~ Catherine Cookson
If principle is good for anything, it is worth living up to. ~ Benjamin Franklin
A good principle not rightly understood may prove as hurtful as a bad. ~ John Milton
It’s easy to have principles when you’re rich. The important thing is to have principles when you’re poor. ~ Ray Kroc
In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Men must have righteous principles in the first place, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions. ~ Martin Luther
It is often easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them. ~ Adlai E. Stevenson
A job is what we do for money; work is what we do for love. ~ Marysarah Quinn
Prosperity is the best protector of principle. ~ Mark Twain
Let how you live your life stand for something, no matter how small and incidental it may seem. ~ Jodie Foster
Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you. ~ Confucius
Principles, like troops of the line, are undisturbed, and stand fast. ~ Jean Paul Friedrich Richter
At present, our country needs women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else. ~ Shirley Chisholm
One just principle from the depths of a cave is more powerful than an army. ~ Jose Marti