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ETHICS QUOTES

Included here is a sampling of some of Ethics Counts favorite ethics quotes, both historical and from popular culture. Please email wilson@ethicscounts.com with your favorite ethics quotes and we'll add them to the site.

This is an inconvenience, I confess, that attends all governments whatsoever, when the governors have brought it to this pass, to be generally suspected of their people—the most dangerous state which they can possibly put themselves in; wherein they are the less to be pitied because it is so easy to be avoided, it being as impossible for a governor, if he really means the good of his people, and the preservation of them and their laws together, not to make them see and feel it, as it is for the father of a family not to let his children see he loves and takes care of them.

John Locke The Second Treatise on Government, c. 1681

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A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free Convention; which rights do pertain to them, and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government...

1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.

3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the publick weal.

Virginia Bill of Rights adopted by the Virginia Constitutional Convention on June 12, 1776

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The two great points of difference between a Democracy and a Republic are, first, the delegation of the Government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country over which the latter may be extended.

The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice, will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good, than if pronounced by the people themselves convened for the purpose. On the other hand, the effect may be inverted. Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or sinister designs, may by intrigue, by corruption or by other means, first obtain the sufferages, and then betray the interests of the people.

James Madison, 1787 Constitutional Convention Delegate,
Author with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay of the Federalist Papers,
Federalist Papers No. 10

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The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.

James Madison, 1787 Constitutional Convention Delegate,
Author with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay of the Federalist Papers,
Federalist Papers No. 57

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Political interest [can] never be separated in the long run from moral right.

Thomas Jefferson, US President, 1806 letter to James Monroe

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When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.

Thomas Jefferson, US President, 1807 conversation with Baron von Humboldt (1807)

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Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.

Henry Clay, Secretary of State, 1829 Speech

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The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country and not for the benefit of an individual or party.

John C. Calhoun, U.S. Senator, February 13, 1835 Speech

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No Member of Congress ought to place himself in circumstances of suspicion, so that any discredit of the body shall arise on his account. It is of the highest importance that the national legislature should be free of all taint of corruption, and it is of almost equal necessity that the people should feel confident that it is so.

For these reasons we think it behooves every man in Congress or in any public position to hold himself aloof, as far as possible, from all such influences, that he may not only be enabled to look at every public question with an eye only to the public good, but that his conduct and motives be not suspected or questioned.

House Report No. 77, 42nd Congress, 3rd Session

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Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust.

Grover Cleveland, US President, 1885 Inaugural Address

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Any person in Government service should: 1. Put loyalty to the highest moral principals and to country above loyalty to Government persons, party or department... 10. Uphold these principles, ever conscious that public office is a public trust.

Code of Ethics for Government Service, 72 Stat Part 2, B12 (1958),
H Con Res 175, 85th Congress

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The ideal concept of public office, expressed by the words "A public office is a public trust", signifies that the officer has been entrusted with public power by the people; that the officer holds this power in trust to be used only for their benefit and never for the benefit of himself or of a few; and that the officer must never conduct his own affairs so as to infringe on the public interest. All official conduct of Members of the Senate should be guided by this paramount concept of public office.

Standing Orders of the Senate adopted as Senate Resolution 266
(90th Congress, 2nd session 1968)

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The American people rightfully expect that Members of the Senate will use the power entrusted to them by the people of their states, and by virtue of the office of trust which they hold, only for the public good and never for their own benefit or the benefit of a few. Citizens' respect for, and thus adherence to, the law, will decline if they lose respect for their representatives in government or believe that the governmental process reflects the desires of special interests rather than the public good... Because Senators occupy a position of public trust, every Senator always must endeavor to avoid the appearance that the Senator, the Senate, or the governmental process may be influenced by campaign contributions or other benefits provided by those with significant legislative or governmental interests.

United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics, Investigation of Senator Alan Cranston,
S. Rept. 102-223, November, 20, 1991

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Because other issues are more important than ethics, ethics is more important than any issue.

Dennis F. Thompson "Three Paradoxes of Government Ethics,"
The Public Manager, Summer 1992

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Don Corleone: You want him to stay in this country.
Nazorine: Godfather, you understand everything.
Don Corleone: Tom, what we need is an Act of Congress to allow Enzo to become a citizen.
Nazorine: (impressed) An Act of Congress!
Hagen: (nodding) It will cost.
Don Corleone: (shrugs) Such is the way with those things
Nazorine: (nods)

The Godfather, Paramount Pictures, 1972

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Don Corleone: Remember my new Consigliere, a lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.

The Godfather, Paramount Pictures, 1972

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I don't like people who are in politics for themselves and not for others. You want that, you can go into show business.

Elvis Presley, "The King" of Rock

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First, your return to shore was not part of our agreement...Second, you must be a pirate for the Pirate's Code to apply and thirdly, the Code is more what you'd call guidelines rather than actual rules.

Captain Hector Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,
Walt Disney Pictures, 2003

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Honesty is not something you flirt with—you should be married to it.

Table Top at Joe's Crab House, Aurora, Colorado