Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.
We have so much room for improvement. Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory... of how we are taking responsibility.
The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies.
By nature, every individual has the right to govern himself; and governments, whether founded on majorities or minorities, must derive their right from the assent, expressed or implied, of the governed,, and be subject to such limitations as they may impose.
We must always remember that all medical interventions have risk, and very little can be asserted with 100 percent certainty.
When liberty is mentioned, we must always be careful to observe whether it is not really the assertion of private interests which is thereby designated.
Corrupt bureaucrats and cops ought to dismissed or compulsorily retired from service, as they are a drain on the service. Their performance must be vigorously assessed.
Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion.
Provision must be made for the extension of speedy and effective assistance when any African State is threatened with military aggression. We cannot rely solely on international morality.
To be sure I must; and therefore I may assume that your silence gives consent.
None of us is designed for the role we must assume in a revolutionary society, although Cubans had the privilege of Jose Marti's example.
You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.
I must admit I found it astonishing to watch the candidates below Donald Trump beat up each other and never lay a glove on the front-runner. I mean, when I was running, everybody went after the front-runner and pointed out my weaknesses and foibles, and that's part of the normal primary process.
Everyone sees they cannot well live asunder, nor many together, without some rule to which all must submit.
If you appear in the 'Atlantic' or 'Harper's' or the 'New Yorker,' by God, you must be a writer, because everybody says so.
Coal is responsible for as much atmospheric carbon dioxide as other fossil fuels combined and it still has far greater reserves. We must stop using it.
The bodies we have are not made for extended use. We must cope with accumulated DNA damage, cell damage, muscle atrophy, bone loss, decreased muscle mass, and joints worn out from overuse during a lifetime of bipedal locomotion. It might have worked great for prehistoric humans, but it wreaks havoc on our knees and hips.
To attain happiness in another world we need only to believe something, while to secure it in this world we must do something.
Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.
As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent; whence must necessarily arise a desire of attaining knowledge with the greatest possible ease.
