Good Man Quotes - Page 24

• Every good leader is part manager and every good manager is part leader.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Leader, Very Good, Managers

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• Tradition is only democracy extended through time; it may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who are merely walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Father, Mean, Men

  'Orthodoxy' (1908) ch. 4

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• If the state cannot be entirely composed of good men, and yet each citizen is expected to do his own business well, and must therefore have virtue, still inasmuch as all the citizens cannot be alike, the virtue of the citizen and of the good man cannot coincide. All must have the virtue of the good citizen - thus, and thus only, can the state be perfect; but they will not have the virtue of a good man, unless we assume that in the good state all the citizens must be good.

  Aristotle

  Men, Perfect, Citizens

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.275, Simon and Schuster

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• Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly and aid his fellows; but the bad man ought not to be a lover of self, since he will follow his base passions, and so injure both himself and his neighbors. With the bad man therefore, what he does is not in accord with what he ought to do, but the good man does what he ought, since intelligence always chooses for itself that which is best, and the good man obeys his intelligence.

  Aristotle

  Passion, Men, Self

  Aristotle (1934). “The Nicomachean ethics”

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• The good man is he for whom, because he is virtuous, the things that are absolutely good are good; it is also plain that his use of these goods must be virtuous and in the absolute sense good.

  Aristotle

  Men, Use, Virtuous

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.380, Simon and Schuster

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• And inasmuch as the great-souled man deserves most, he must be the best of men; for the better a man is the more he deserves, and he that is best deserves most. Therefore the truly great-souled man must be a good man. Indeed greatness in each of the virtues would seem to go with greatness of soul.

  Aristotle

  Greatness, Men, Soul

  Aristotle (2017). “Eleven Common Characteristics of Great Souls”, p.4, Philaletheians UK

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• Take the case of just actions; just punishments and chastisements do indeed spring from a good principle, but they are good only because we cannot do without them - it would be better that neither individuals nor states should need anything of the sort - but actions which aim at honor and advantage are absolutely the best. The conditional action is only the choice of a lesser evil; whereas these are the foundation and creation of good. A good man may make the best even of poverty and disease, and the other ills of life.

  Aristotle

  Good Life, Spring, Men

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.2113, Princeton University Press

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• For a companion, I require one who will make an equal demand on me with my own genius. Such a one will always be rightly tolerant.It is suicide, and corrupts good manners, to welcome any less than this. I value and trust those who love and praise my aspiration rather than my performance. If you would not stop to look at me, but look whither I am looking, and farther, then my education could not dispense with your company.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Friendship, Suicide, Ambition

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.212, Delphi Classics

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• The ground that a good man treads is hallowed.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Reading, Men, Evil

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• Association with women is the basis of good manners.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Women, Association, Manners

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• The most useful and honorable science and occupation for a woman is the science of housekeeping. I know some that are miserly, very few that are good managers.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Women, Occupation, Housekeeping

  Michel de Montaigne (1976). “The Complete Essays of Montaigne”

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• Sometimes, some of us in some things we do know better. When we know better, I think it's imperative that we do better. Otherwise we're perpetuating myths that have for centuries done us no good. Men and women alike. No one is exempt from being called into consciousness.

  Jill Alexander Essbaum

  Men, Thinking, Done

  Source: therumpus.net

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• It would be a kind of ferocity to reject indifferently all sorts of praise. One should be glad to have that which comes from good men who praise in sincerity things that are really praiseworthy.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Men, Would Be, Kind

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• Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it's not that simple... Real-life kings had real-life problems to deal with... My people who are trying to rule don't have an easy time of it. Just having good intentions doesn't make you a wise king.

  George R. R. Martin

  Leadership, Wise, Kings

  "George R.R. Martin: The Rolling Stone Interview". Interview with Mikal Gilmore, www.rollingstone.com. April 23, 2014.

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• Ulysses is son to Laertes, but he is father to Telemachus, husband to Penelope, lover of Calypso, companion in arms of the Greek warriors around Troy, and King of Ithaca. He was subjected to many trials, but with wisdom and courage came through them all.... he is a complete man as well, a good man.

  James Joyce

  Kings, Husband, Father

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• The earliest instinct of the child, and the ripest experience of age, unite in affirming simplicity to be the truest and profoundest part for man. Likewise this simplicity is so universal and all-containing as a rule for human life, that the subtlest bad man, and the purest good man, as well as the profoundest wise man, do all alike present it on that side which they socially turn to the inquisitive and unscrupulous world.

  Herman Melville

  Wise, Children, Men

  Herman Melville (2016). “Pierre or The Ambiguities”, p.287, Herman Melville

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• A good man therefore is a standing lesson to us all.

  Henry Fielding

  Men, Lessons, Goodness

  Henry Fielding (1821). “The novels of Henry Fielding ... complete in one volume. To which is prefixed, a memoir of the life of the author [by sir W. Scott].”, p.6

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• It is perfectly right for a gentleman to say "ladies and gentlemen," but a lady should say, "gentlemen and ladies." You mention your friend's name before you do your own. I always feel like rebuking any woman who says, "ladies and gentlemen." It is a lack of good manners.

  Susan B. Anthony

  Names, Gentleman, Manners

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• In most cases an act of unwelcome sex is no more bother than being vaccinated, so there's no point going on about it as if it werea fate worse than death. With skill and good manners you can avoid having to make the sacrifice, but should you find yourself in a compromising situation largely of your own making, you should stop defending your virtue and start worrying about your maturity. It will give you something to think about while the savage pumper bangs away.

  Quentin Crisp

  Sex, Fate, Sacrifice

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• Good manners, Madam, are had these days not
  For your asking, nor mine, nor what-we-used-to-be's.
  The day is a loud grenade that bursts a smile
  Of serious weeds in a comic lily plot.

  Allen Tate

  Weed, Plot, Asking

  Allen Tate (2014). “Collected Poems, 1919-1976”, p.204, Macmillan

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• A good man's life is all of a piece.

  Benjamin Whichcote

  Men, Pieces, Life Is

  Benjamin Whichcote, Anthony Tuckney (1753). “Moral and religious aphorisms [collected by J. Jeffery from the papers of B. Whichcote]. Now re-publ., with additions, by S. Salter. To which are added, Eight letters: which passed between dr. Whichcote, and dr. Tuckney”, p.177

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• A good man will honor him who lives up to his religious profession, whatever it be.

  Samuel Richardson

  Religious, Men, Religion

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• A good man will extend his munificence to the industrious poor of all persuasions reduced by age, infirmity, or accident; to thosewho labour under incurable maladies; and to the youth of either sex, who are capable of beginning the world with advantage, but have not the means.

  Samuel Richardson

  Sex, Mean, Men

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• A good man will not engage even in a national cause, without examining the justice of it.

  Samuel Richardson

  Men, Justice, Patriotism

  Samuel Richardson (1755). “A collection of the moral and instructive sentiments, maxims, cautions, and reflexions, contained in the histories of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison: Digested under proper heads, with references to the volume, ...”, p.283

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• Misanthropes have some admirable if paradoxical virtues. It is no exaggeration to say that we are among the nicest people you are likely to meet. Because good manners build sturdy walls, our distaste for intimacy makes us exceedingly cordial "ships that pass in the night." As long as you remain a stranger we will be your friend forever.

  Florence King

  Friendship, Relationship, Wall

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