“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The Sermon on the Mount, 1611 · the last of the Beatitudes
Chapter 8
On Doing Right When It Costs
“Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.”
The Book of Job, 1611 · Hebrew poem of a man stripped of everything
“Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy.”
Socrates, c. 399 BC · on trial for his life in Athens, as recorded by Plato
“Not life, but a good life, is to be chiefly valued. And a good life is equivalent to a just and honorable one.”
Socrates, c. 399 BC · refusing to escape prison, as recorded by Plato
“Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man, couldst by a breath annul and override the immutable unwritten laws of Heaven. I knew that I must die, e'en hadst thou not proclaimed it.”
Sophocles, c. 441 BC · Greek tragedian, Antigone answering Creon
“He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing; not only he who does a certain thing.”
Marcus Aurelius, c. 180 AD · Roman emperor and Stoic
“Pure wisdom leads people into lowliness of mind, in which they learn contentment in suffering for his cause, when they cannot keep a clear conscience without suffering.”
John Woolman, 1774 · Quaker who walked rather than ride the stagecoach that abused its horses and drivers
People who believed they were the only witness to an emergency reported it eighty-five percent of the time. Those who believed four others could also hear it reported it thirty-one percent of the time.
John Darley and Bibb Latane, 1968 · social psychologists, diffusion of responsibility
People given an early chance to prove they were not prejudiced went on to behave worse later. Having banked the credit, they felt free to spend it.
Benoit Monin and Dale Miller, 2001 · social psychologists, moral licensing
The Cornell Legacy Project asked more than a thousand Americans in their seventies, eighties and nineties what they had learned. Acting honestly, even when it cost them, was among the lessons they returned to most.
Cornell Legacy Project, 2011 · Karl Pillemer's study of the oldest Americans
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