Quotation Collection

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• character
• adversity
• challenge

Our instincts about morality, like everything else about us, must have evolved to enhance our reproductive fitness in a certain environment. But like our instincts about what to eat, our moral instincts aren't always well adapted for the modern world. For that reason—and also because reproductive fitness is not the only thing we care about—our instincts are worth reexamining and occasionally transcending. Steven Landsburg

• morals

Sow an action and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny. William James

• character
• actions
• habit
• destiny

None of the four wars in my lifetime came about because we were too strong. It is weakness that invites adventurous adversaries to make mistaken judgments. America is the most peaceful, least warlike nation in modern history. We are not the cause of all the ills of the world. We're a patient and generous people. But for the sake of our freedom and that of others, we cannot permit our reserve to be confused with a lack of resolve. Ronald Wilson Reagan

• military
• war
• freedom