Quotes about goodness
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“You say that a good cause will even sanctify war! I tell you, it is the good war that sanctifies every cause!”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Source: Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Change

“As far as I'm concerned the last good man went when Elvis died.”

Jennifer Crusie book Bet Me

Source: Bet Me

“There are two ways of waking up in the morning. One is to say, 'Good morning, God,' and the other is to say, 'Good God, morning'!”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter

God, Way

“It's him," I said. "Typhon."
I was seriously hoping Chiron would say something good, like 'No, that's our huge friend Leroy! He's going to help us!”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Hope, Help

“I just found this world a hard place to be good in,’ says Bunny, then he closes his eyes and, with an expiration of breath, goes still.”

Nick Cave book The Death of Bunny Munro

Source: The Death of Bunny Munro

World

“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine”

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church

Sleep, Wine

“Lady Bracknell. Good afternoon, dear Algernon, I hope you are behaving very well.

Algernon. I’m feeling very well, Aunt Augusta.

Lady Bracknell. That’s not quite the same thing. In fact the two things rarely go together.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

Hope, Feeling

“What she wants to do if she can get the time to do it, is not so much to live in the past as to open it up and get one good look at it".”

Alice Munro book Runaway

Source: Runaway

Time, Past

“It is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer

Love, World, Forgiveness

“A beautiful object has no intrinsic quality that is good for the mind, nor an ugly object any intrinsic power to harm it. Beautiful and ugly are just projections of the mind. The ability to cause happiness or suffering is not a property of the outer object itself. For example, the sight of a particular individual can cause happiness to one person and suffering to another. It is the mind that attributes such qualities to the perceived object.”

Dilgo Khyentse (1910–1991) Bhutanese Buddhist Lama

Beauty, Suffering, Personality, Happiness

“By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity.”

Vernon Howard (1918–1992) American writer

Beauty, Flowers

“Literature, at least good literature, is science tempered with the blood of art. Like architecture or music.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Angel's Game

Source: The Angel's Game

Art, Music, Literature, Science

“Change is neither good nor bad, but knowledge is always useful.”

Christopher Paolini book Inheritance

Source: Inheritance (2011)

Knowledge, Change

“let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Love

“It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

For Men, Parting

“Immersing oneself in the problems of a book is a good way to keep from thinking of love.”

Orhan Pamuk book Snow

Source: Snow

Love, Books, Way, Problem

“Our thoughts are clay, they are moulded with the changes of the days;--when we are resting they are good; under fire, they are dead. Fields of craters within and without.”

Erich Maria Remarque book All Quiet on the Western Front

Source: All Quiet on the Western Front

Change, Dead

“Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

Thinking, Teachers, Universe

“Despite rumor, Death isn't cruel--merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

Death

“We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.”

William Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra

Source: Antony and Cleopatra

“If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience.”

John Cage (1912–1992) American avant-garde composer

Music, Way

“The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to land in hell together, as quickly as possible.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Hell

“If I tell you I'm good, probably you will say I'm boasting. But if I tell you I'm not good, you'll know I'm lying.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

Lying

“When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Variant: When you see a man of worth, think of how you may emulate him. When you see one who is unworthy, examine yourself.

Thinking, Personality

“If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Stupidity, World, Optimism

“Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter

Source: The Quotable Fulton Sheen: A Topical Compilation of the Wit, Wisdom, and Satire of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Life, Books

“Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

People

“Suffer love! A good ephitet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing

Love, Suffering

“A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude.”

Rainer Maria Rilke book Letters to a Young Poet

Source: Letters to a Young Poet

Marriage, Solitude

“I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Not a Kerouac quote, but by Jon Krakauer, from his nonfiction book Into the Wild (1996).
Misattributed
Source: On the Road

World

“The seasons do not push one another; neither do clouds race the wind across the sky. All things happen in their own good time.”

Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer

Time, Season

“There is within each one of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining; for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment; for loving unconditionally.”

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) American psychiatrist

Love, Imagination

“I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

People, Religion, Problem, Freedom

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British poet

Beauty, Christmas, Food, Home

“I like someone who is a little crazy but coming from a good place. I think scars are sexy because it means you made a mistake that led to a mess.”

Angelina Jolie (1975) American actress, film director, and screenwriter

Thinking

“He have his goodness now, God forbid I take it from him!”

Arthur Miller The Crucible

Elizabeth Proctor
Source: The Crucible (1953)

God

“It's vital to remember who you really are. It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

People, Idea

“Christians talk as though goodness was their idea but good behavior doesn't have any religious origin. Our prisons are filled with the devout.”

Andy Rooney (1919–2011) writer, humorist, television personality

Source: Sincerely, Andy Rooney

Behavior, Idea

“I used to be so good at that kind of thing," Skulduggery said quietly.
"Well, my morale is certainly boosted," Valkyrie informed him.
"Really?"
"god no. That was terrible”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Playing with Fire

God

“Granny Weatherwax was not a good loser. From her point of view, losing was something that happened to other people.”

Terry Pratchett book Witches Abroad

Source: Witches Abroad

People

“Only a soul full of despair can ever attain serenity and, to be in despair, you must have loved a good deal and still love the world.”

Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961) French writer of Swiss origin

Love, World, Soul, Despair

“I'm always on the lookout for something good about people. Often months go by.”

Andy Rooney (1919–2011) writer, humorist, television personality

People

“The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Way

“I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Cecily, Act II
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Life, Hope, Time

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

Beauty, Peaceful, Weather

“For the world was changing, and sweetness was gone, and virtue too. Worry had crept on a corroding world, and what was lost- good manners, ease and beauty? Ladies were not ladies anymore, and you couldn't trust a gentleman's word.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

World, Beauty, Change

“A legal kiss is never as good as a stolen one.”

Guy De Maupassant (1850–1893) French writer

"A Wife's Confession"

Kiss

“Good writers have two things in common: they prefer to be understood rather than admired; and they do not write for knowing and over-acute readers.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“For how can one know color in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Variant: What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Color

“It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”

Hugh Laurie (1959) British actor, comedian, writer, musician and director

Context: (Answering "What made you step up to making your own record?") I felt like I may not get opportunities to do this ever again, so it’s about time—it’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There’s almost no such thing as ready. There’s only now. And you may as well do it now. I mean, I say that confidently as if I’m about to go bungee jumping or something—I’m not. I’m not a crazed risk taker. But I do think that, generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.

Life, Feeling, Thinking, Time

“Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

People, History, Evil

“Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

Cheating

“The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.”

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

“A good liar knows that the most efficient lie is always a truth that has had a key piece removed from it.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Prisoner of Heaven

Source: The Prisoner of Heaven

Truth, Lie

“A man is only as good as what he loves.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

Love

“Once you had a good excuse, you opened the door to bad excuses.”

Terry Pratchett Thud!

Source: Thud!

“A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.”

Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States

As quoted in The Observer [London] (26 November 1961)

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

People, Fear, Hope

“I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs.

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond, that character—not wealth or power or position—is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual's highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.”

John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist

Love, Life, God, Hate

“For better to come, good must stand aside.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

“There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us,
it doesn't behoove any of us to speak evil of the rest of us”

Edgar Cayce (1877–1945) Purported clairvoyant healer and psychic

Evil

“You are old beyond your years Zoeybird. Believe in yourself and you will find a way. But remember darkness does not always equate to evil just like light does not always bring good.”

P. C. Cast book Marked

Source: Marked

Way, Light, Evil

“I believe in using words, not fists… I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

No known source; also attributed to Susan Sarandon.[citation needed]
Disputed

People, Food, Sex, Time

“One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.”

Thomas Paine book The Age of Reason

1790s
Source: The Age of Reason

“Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor, — all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked, — who is good? not that men are ignorant, — what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.”

W.E.B. Du Bois book The Souls of Black Folk

Source: The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Ch. XII: Of Alexander Crummell

Men, Truth, Age

“Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.”

Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian psychiatrist

Source: The Second Sin (1973), P. 49.

“Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates.”

Mark Twain book Life on the Mississippi

Source: Life on the Mississippi

God, Hope

“The more boring a child is, the more the parents, when showing off the child, receive adulation for being good parents — because they have a tame child-creature in their house.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

"Ben Watson interviews Frank Zappa", in MOJO magazine (October 1993).

Parent, Housing

“Well-meaning, helpful, good-natured attitudes of mind have not come to be honored on account of their usefulness, but because they are states of richer souls that are capable of bestowing and have their value in the feeling of the plenitude of life.”

Friedrich Nietzsche book The Will to Power

Source: The Will to Power

Life, Feeling, Soul, Nature

“Every minute you are thinking of evil, you might have been thinking of good instead. Refuse to pander to a morbid interest in your own misdeeds.
Pick yourself up, be sorry, shake yourself, and go on again.”

Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) British saint, poet, novelist

Thinking, Evil

“It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Perfection

“The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.

Love, Hate, Knowledge

“There was no more good or evil in this world than we imagine there to be, either out of greed or out of innocence. Or sometimes madness.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Angel's Game

Source: The Angel's Game

World, Imagination, Evil, Madness

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”

James Allen (1864–1912) British philosophical writer

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Serenity
Context: The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.

Wisdom, Beauty, Success

“This Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America. We are a community of 240 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the planet Earth. We human beings are still divided into nation states, but these states are rapidly becoming a single global civilization.

We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some--perhaps many--may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message:

This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

World, Hope, Music, Way

“The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good.”

Catherine Ponder (1927) American priest

Forgiveness

“Blessings be on this house," Granny said, perfunctorily. It was always a good opening remark for a witch. It concentrated people's minds on what other things might be on this house.”

Terry Pratchett book Witches Abroad

Source: Witches Abroad

People, Housing

“It is very good that Wikipedia also gives a page to "Internet Meme". Internet memes are arguably the most important subset of memes today”

Richard Dawkins book The Selfish Gene

https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/276449081746915328 (5 December 2012) <br class="br">Twitter <br class="br">Source: The Selfish Gene

“Just because something is beautiful doesn´t mean it´s good.”

Alex Flinn book Beastly

Source: Beastly

Beauty

“I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good, either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”

Roald Dahl book My Uncle Oswald

Source: My Uncle Oswald (1979)

Love, Life, Passion, Speed

“If you've a story, make sure it's a whole one, with details close to hand. It's the difference between a good lie and getting caught.”

Tamora Pierce (1954) American writer of fantasy novels for children

Source: Trickster's Choice

Lie

“This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.”

William Shakespeare Julius Caesar

Source: Julius Caesar

Men

“I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each other.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Source: Frankenstein

Men, Hate, Understanding, Evil

“Be good and you will be lonesome.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Variant: Be good and you will be lonely.
Source: Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

“To look wise is quite as good as understanding a thing, and very much easier.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Understanding

“There is only one real misfortune: to forfeit one's own good opinion of oneself. Lose your complacency, once betray your own self-contempt and the world will unhesitatingly endorse it.”

Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German novelist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate

World

“He was still too young to know that the heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Love in the Time of Cholera

Variant: .. the heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and [that] thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past
Source: Love in the Time of Cholera

Memory, Past, Heart