Quotes on Ought

The past will not tell us what we ought to do, but... what we ought to avoid.

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.

The searching-out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man.

Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.

There ought not to be anything in the whole universe that man can't poke his nose into-that's the way we're built and I assume that there's some reason for that.

Sailors ought never to go to church. They ought to go to hell, where it is much more comfortable.

As a general rule, nobody has money who ought to have it.

[The papists] ought to have sympathy with us weak, poor Christians, and not condemn us or make fun of us because we are learning so childishly to toddle along the benches, nay, to creep in the mire, and cannot skip and dance, on such light feet and legs, over and outside of God's commandments, as they do, the strong heroes and giants ... God forbid that we should!

Does housekeeping interest you at all? I think it really ought to be just as good as writing and I never see where the separation between the too comes in. At least if you must put books on one side and life on the other, each is a poor and bloodless thing; but my theory is that they mix indistinguishable.

Men ought to know that from the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joy, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs, and tears.

What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope?

All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.

Prayer ought to be short and pure, unless it be prolonged by the inspiration of Divine grace.

A prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers.

Therefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.

Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary - they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be.

If there be a principle that ought not to be questioned within the United States, it is that every man has a right to abolish an old government and establish a new one. This principle is not only recorded in every public archive, written in every American heart, and sealed with the blood of American martyrs, but is the only lawful tenure by which the United States hold their existence as a nation.

Some reasonable term ought to be allowed to enable aliens to get rid of foreign and acquire American attachments; to learn the principles and imbibe the spirit of our government; and to admit of a probability at least, of their feeling a real interest in our affairs.

The lack of belief is a defect that ought to be concealed when it cannot be overcome.

If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig.