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“I shall obey God rather than you.”
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates
Socrates presents moral and philosophical duty as more binding than compliance with pressure from political authority.
Source note: Apology, Jowett translation; Socrates says he would continue practicing philosophy even if acquittal were conditioned on silence.
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“Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.”
Integrity includes conduct that can withstand public scrutiny as well as private conviction.
Source note: 2 Corinthians 8:21 in the King James Version.
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“Can we so educate a group of students that there will be in every one of them a conscience on which we can depend.”
The educational question shifts attention from acquiring information to developing dependable moral judgment, which Washington treats as a central test of character formation.
Source note: Character Building, “Each One His Part,” Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington asks whether Tuskegee can educate an individual conscience that performs small duties thoroughly even when no audience is watching; the question closes that address’s argument about conscientious responsibility.
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“It does not pay an individual to do anything except what his conscience will approve of every day, and every hour and minute in the day.”
Washington makes conscience a recurring test of conduct, asking whether ordinary choices can withstand one’s own moral approval rather than merely outside scrutiny.
Source note: Character Building, “What Will Pay?”, Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington reports a discussion of honesty in business and uses conscience as a practical test of conduct; the sentence belongs to that address’s argument that dishonest dealing does not pay.
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“He that walketh uprightly walketh surely.”
Consistent upright conduct reduces the need to maintain conflicting stories or hidden motives.
Source note: Proverbs 10:9 in the King James Version; the opening clause is quoted here.
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“The liar is no whit better than the thief.”
Roosevelt argues that criticism loses moral legitimacy when it becomes false, making truthfulness a constraint on reform even when the target of criticism may deserve scrutiny.
Source note: The Man with the Muck-Rake, April 14, 1906. Roosevelt is discussing public criticism, journalism and slander; the surrounding speech simultaneously calls for relentless exposure of genuine wrongdoing when the attack is truthful.