The Greatness of a Man - Bob Marley

No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such. — Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius compresses an entire ethical program into a single command: stop debating the ideal good man and instead become one. At once, he shifts attention from abstraction to conduct, suggesting that moral worth i...

Do not explain your philosophy. Embody it. — Epictetus

Epictetus

Epictetus compresses a whole ethical system into a command: stop talking about values as if they were ornaments of the mind, and start wearing them in conduct. Rather than asking for a polished defense of one’s philosoph...

Craftsmanship means an uncompromising dedication to excellence and durability. It means doing a job to the very best of your ability, simply because that is the basis of integrity. — The Craftsmanship Initiative

The Craftsmanship Initiative

At its core, this statement defines craftsmanship as more than technical skill; it presents excellence as an ethical obligation. To work with care, precision, and patience is not merely to produce something attractive or...

Settle on the type of person you want to be and stick to it, whether alone or in company. — Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius urges us to choose a moral character deliberately rather than letting circumstance shape us from moment to moment. At the heart of the line is a simple but demanding idea: integrity means remaining the sa...

I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good. — Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Mies van der Rohe’s line draws a sharp boundary between being “interesting” and being “good,” implying that the two are not automatically aligned. “Interesting” can be a surface effect—something that grabs attention quic...

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. — Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher’s line begins by relocating the source of standards: instead of waiting for society, supervisors, or peers to demand excellence, he urges you to demand it of yourself first. The point is not perfection...