Inspiration:

Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self- consciousness.
Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990)
 

 

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
Frank Tibolt
 

 

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London (1876 - 1916)
 

 

Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long.
Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990)
 

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC), In "Apology," sct. 21, by Plato.
 

 

Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931), Harper's Monthly, 1932

Integrity

 

Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.
George Santayana (1863 - 1952), "The German Mind: A Philosophical Diagnosis"

 

In silence man can most readily preserve his integrity.
Meister Eckhart

 

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), in Good Housekeeping

 

Integrity combined with faithfulness is a powerful force and worthy of great respect.
Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, January 27, 2003

 

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Honesty

 

The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - )
 

 

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?
Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
 

 

Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor unless it is kept under control.
Don Marquis (1878 - 1937)
 

 

The day is for honest men, the night for thieves.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC), Iphigenia in Tauris, circa 412 B.C.
 

 

Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people.
Kin Hubbard (1868 - 1930)
 

 

If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?
Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity, 2002
 

 

Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
 

 

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
 

 

When in doubt, tell the truth.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
 

 

Level with your child by being honest. Nobody spots a phony quicker than a child.
Mary MacCracken
 

 

When something that honest is said it usually needs a few minutes of silence to dissipate.
Pamela Ribon, Why Girls Are Weird, 2003
 

 

Son, always tell the truth. Then you'll never have to remember what you said the last time.
Sam Rayburn (1882 - 1961), quoted Washingtonian, November 1978
 

 

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), letter to John Melish, January 13, 1813
 

 

There are only two ways of telling the complete truth--anonymously and posthumously.
Thomas Sowell (1930 - )
 

 

Honesty is the best image.
Tom Wilson, Ziggy (comic)
 

 

Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.
Walter Anderson
 

 

Every man has his fault, and honesty is his.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Timon of Athens", Act 3 scene 1
 

 

I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Much Ado about Nothing", Act 3 scene 1
 

 

No legacy is so rich as honesty.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "All's Well that Ends Well", Act 3 scene 5
 

Respect

He removes the greatest ornament of friendship, who takes away from it respect.
Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
 

 

Respect yourself and others will respect you.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
 

 

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950), "Man and Superman" (1903), act I
 

 

Respect a man, he will do the more.
James Howell
 

 

Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.
Jane Addams (1860 - 1935), Speech, Honolulu (1933)
 

 

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.
John Herschel (1792 - 1871)
 

 

Some people have so much respect for their superiors they have none left for themselves.
Peter McArthur
 

 

If you want to be respected, you must respect yourself.
Spanish Proverb
 

 

The way to procure insults is to submit to them: a man meets with no more respect than he exacts.
William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)
 

 

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.
William J. H. Boetcker