Quotes about Ideals

There is only one way for any of us to resolve the tension between the high ideals of the gospel and the grim reality of ourselves: to accept that we will never measure up, but that we do not have to. We are judged by the righteousness of the Christ who lives within, not our own.

Have I placed more value on my status or title than on my character? What perceptions do I have about myself, other people, and the world? Are they aligned with my purpose? Do they reflect the values I claim to have? What is my true nature, apart from my reputation? What values will I refuse to deny because, to do so, I would violate my ideals and ethics?

A man can be a Christian or a patriot, but he can't legally be a Christian and a patriot - except in the usual way: one of the two with the mouth, the other with the heart.

If America is an idea, which it is - we're not a nation of ethnic groups that say we're Americans because we have American blood; we have the blood of every nation in our veins - and there's something really beautiful about that, but it means that we are an idea and that we all have to buy into this idea.

The key to the future for blacks is a commitment to America and its ideals of freedom, personal responsibility, the free enterprise system, and moral principles.

Mediaevalism, with its saints and martyrs, its love of self-torture, its wild passion for wounding itself, its gashing with knives, and its whipping with rods—Mediaevalism is real Christianity, and the mediaeval Christ is the real Christ.  When the Renaissance dawned upon the world, and brought with it the new ideals of the beauty of life and the joy of living, men could not understand Christ. 

The other parties campaign for parliamentary seats, more or less. We campaign for our principles!

This is the tragedy of the postmodern age. The things that matter most in life, that are necessary for a humane society—ideals like moral freedom, human dignity, even loving our own children—have been reduced to nothing but useful fictions. They are tossed into the attic, which becomes a convenient dumping ground for anything that a materialist paradigm cannot explain.

I was the symbol of justice in the court of the oppressor, the representative of the great ideals of freedom.

Neither secular progress nor secular progressives have brought the West where they once promised. Nor can they.

Unlike other countries, the United States is more an idea than a place, ethnicity, or race. Unfortunately, most American young people today cannot answer, What is America for? What is it about? Why was it founded? Why is it different? They can't answer these questions because they haven't been taught an answer.

I think that my preaching style and many of my ideas and ideals about faith are based in both Pentecostal and Baptist background.