“Where are they now that we, the men whom they sent off to war, have returned? These are commanders who have deserted their troops, and there is no more serious crime in the law of war. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The Marines say they never leave even their dead. These men have left all the casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They have left the real stuff of their reputation bleaching behind them in the sun in this country.”
Senator John Kerry
“The only guide to man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honor.”
Winston Churchill
“Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him”
St. Thomas Aquinas
“Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you *stand, Men of the West!*”
J.R.R. Tolkien
“Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.”
Thomas Paine
“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”
George Washington
“One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.”
Oscar Wilde
