Stephen Covey
Author, Speaker
"Integrity is conforming reality to our words - in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations."
Keeping Promises quotes
Keeping Promises
44 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military Leader, Emperor
"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it."
Niccolo Machiavelli
Political Philosopher, Historian
"A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise."
William Lyon Mackenzie King
Politician
"The politician's promises of yesterday are the taxes of today."
Abraham Lincoln
Political Leader
"We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot."
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside keeping promises — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Keeping Promises quotes (page 1 of 3)
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"It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath."
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"The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present."
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"Don't make promises you can't keep."
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"Private victories precede public victories."
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"Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible."
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"Promises may get thee friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies."
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"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes... but no plans."
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"Better break your word than do worse in keeping it."
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"Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing."
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"Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future."
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"Sometimes people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them."
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"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises; and oft it hits where hope is coldest, and despair most fits."
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"And that means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what."
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"If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan."
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"Love is keeping the promise anyway."
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"When a man repeats a promise again and again, he means to fail you."
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"Thou oughtest to be nice, even to Superstition, in keeping thy Promises; and therefore thou shouldst be equally cautious in making them."
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"Everyone's a millionaire where promises are concerned."
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"Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said. "Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway."
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"It is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves."
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