I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
Abraham LincolnRead
I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People generally act rightly unless they have incentives to do wrong.
This quote by Abraham Lincoln suggests that human behavior is often guided by a natural inclination towards what is right, implying that individuals will make moral choices unless external influences or motives lead them astray. It highlights the idea that integrity is inherently linked to a person's motives and circumstances.
Themes
MoralityBehaviorMotivesIntegrityHonesty
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethics in business, one might use this quote to illustrate why companies should foster a culture of integrity.
More from Abraham Lincoln
All quotes βSir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Abraham LincolnRead
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham LincolnRead
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
Abraham LincolnRead
For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then is due to the soldier.
Abraham LincolnRead
And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.
Abraham LincolnRead
Similar quotes
The world is not given by our fathers but borrowed from our children.
Wendell BerryRead
All things began in Order, so shall they end, and so shall they begin again, according to the Ordainer of Order, and the mystical mathematicks of the City of Heaven.
Thomas BrowneRead
The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural.
Leonard RavenhillRead
As Freud has shown, blunders are not the merest chance. They are the result of suppressed desires and conflicts. They are ripples on the surface of life, produced by unsuspected springs. And these may be very deep - as deep as the soul itself. The blunder may amount to the opening of a destiny.
Joseph CampbellRead
From the depths of the West of Europe, a young child will be born of poor people, he who by his tongue will seduce a great troop; his fame will increase towards the realm of the East.
NostradamusRead
We're not our skin of grime, we're not our dread bleak dusty imageless locomotive, we're all beautiful golden sunflowers inside, we're blessed by our own seed & hairy naked accomplishment-bodies growing into mad black formal sunflowers in the sunset, spied on by our eyes under the shadow of the mad locomotive riverbank sunset Frisco hilly tincan evening sitdown vision.
Allen GinsbergRead