"Self-determination is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril."
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Principles quotes
Principles
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Principles quotes (page 20 of 117)
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"Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles."
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"Let us admit that most of us writers feel an essential aversion to politics. By taking such a position, however, we accept the perverted principle of specialization, according to which some are paid to write about the horrors of the world and human responsibility and others to deal with those horrors and bear the human responsibility for them."
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"The value of a principle is the number of things it will explain."
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"Never betray His principles for any reason whatsoever, and take great care not to spoil God's affairs by too much haste in them."
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"The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty."
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"One of the things I keep coming back to in my writing is that society doesn't work on this mirror principle - you don't have an exact replica on the left of what you have on the right. It just doesn't work that way."
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"Agnosticism is not properly described as a "negative" creed, nor indeed as a creed of any kind, except in so far as it expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle which is as much ethical as intellectual."
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"The Right of all members of society to form their own beliefs and communicate them freely to others must be regarded as an essential principle of a democratically organized society."
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"A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of the society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sin and suffering."
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"It is a principle that the right to a thing gives a right to the means without which it could not be used, that is to say, that the means follow their end."
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"Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government."
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"We are now trusting to those who are against us in position and principle, to fashion to their own form the minds and affections of our youth... This canker is eating on the vitals of our existence, and if not arrested at once, will be beyond remedy."
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"Every honest man will suppose honest acts to flow from honest principles, and the rogues may rail without intermission."
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"We ought not to schismatize on either men or measures. Principles alone can justify that."
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"Things happen when people are not where they belong, and the world moves forward and back by that principle."
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"Our science is like a store filled with the most subtle intellectual devices for solving the most complex problems, and yet we are almost incapable of applying the elementary principles of rational thought."
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"Principles are the simplicity on the far side of complexity."
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"If we do discover a complete theory, it should be in time understandable in broad principle by everyone. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people be able to take part in the discussion of why we and the universe exist."
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"Natural selection is just three factors - over-production, variation, and inheritance combined to produce adaptation to changing local environments. It's not a principle or progress; it's just a principle of local adaptation. You don't make better creatures in any cosmic sense; you make creatures that are better suited to the changing climates of their local habitats."
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