Emotions get in the way but they don't pay me to start crying at the loss of 269 lives. They pay me to put some perspective on the situation.
Ted KoppelRead
Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail as you surely will adjust your lives, not the standards.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote encourages individuals to uphold high moral standards and practice civility, even amidst failures.
Ted Koppel emphasizes the importance of maintaining a standard of decency and ethical behavior in life. He acknowledges that while we may fail to live up to these standards at times, the solution is to adjust our actions rather than compromise our moral values. This message encourages a commitment to civility and integrity in our interactions with others.
Themes
DecencyCivilityMoralityEthical BehaviorStandards
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a speech about the importance of ethics in the workplace.
More from Ted Koppel
All quotes →Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder; it is a howling reproach.
Ted KoppelRead
My function is, as objectively and accurately as I can, to present reality to people out there, and doing that as quickly as we do is quite difficult enough, thank you.
Ted KoppelRead
Set your sights beyond what you can see. There is true majesty in the concept of an unseen power which can neither be measured nor weighed.
Ted KoppelRead
You can almost measure where you are in life by the degree to which you have begun looking back rather than ahead.
Ted KoppelRead
People shouldn't expect the mass media to do investigative stories. That job belongs to the 'fringe' media.
Ted KoppelRead
Similar quotes
We must sow the seed, not hoard it.
Saint DominicRead
Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.
Herman MelvilleRead
But they who give straight judgements to strangers and to those of the land and do not transgress what is just, for them the city flourishes and its people prosper.
HesiodRead
Be a lamp unto yourselves! Work out your liberation with diligence! Fill your mind with compassion!
Gautama BuddhaRead
The more acute the experience, the less articulate its expression.
Harold PinterRead
Tortoises can tell you more about the road than hares.
Khalil GibranRead