Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.

Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.

If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody,

If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody,

When a fellow says it hain't the money but the principle o' the thing, it's th' money.

When a fellow says it hain't the money but the principle o' the thing, it's th' money.

Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they read more

Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.

The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the read more

The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.

I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.