Values Quotes

“She's a gift, you see,
rare and precious
as wild grass
or heron in flight;
unpredictable,
beyond imitation,
gemstone perfect.
 ”
― Don Hynes, Something Will Change Me: Poems of Soul and Spirit

“There is the land
green and rising
and there is the heart
empty of longing,
with room at last
for silence.
 ”
― Don Hynes, Something Will Change Me: Poems of Soul and Spirit

“Always value people over things"

"Without farmers you'd be naked, hungry, and sober”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

“I think a lot of people are moving toward the conservative movement because we’re realizing that our grandparents had these very beautiful values that gave us a lot to look forward to.”
― Jessica Marie Baumgartner

“The days of closed ethical systems are gone. The peoples of the world must live together, and the world is shrinking by the hour. Living together means that the multiple ethical systems and values around the earth must be synthesized into certain universals acceptable to the people of the world.”
― Saul D. Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals

“Before you can lead others, however, you have to believe that you have a positive impact on others. You have to believe that your values are worthy and that what you do matters. You have to believe that your words can inspire and your actions can more others.”
― Kouzes/Posner, Leadership Challenge 4th E

“Before you can lead others, however, you have to believe that you have a positive impact on others. You have to believe that your values are worthy and that what you do matters. You have to believe that your words can inspire and your actions can move others.”
― Kouzes/Posner, Leadership Challenge 4th E

“We’re all working multiple jobs. We’re all so tired, we’re barely able to keep up with our kids. We barely know our neighbors. Everybody is so stretched thin because our values have shifted away from what really matters.”
― Jessica Marie Baumgartner

“Excellence is difficult to achieve in a vacuum.”
― Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something

“Decisions are easy when your values are clear.”
― A.M. Rose, A Thousand Cuts

“If you can take effective action, do so. If you can't, then make room for your discomfort, de-fuse from your worries, and engage in doing something meaningful, here, and now.”
― Russ Harris, The Confidence Gap

“You are the artist of your lighthouse.”
― Delphanie Frank

“Even good people have their limits.”
― Sasha Laghonh

“If we accept that technology is simply beyond our control, we cede our future to engineers, corporate leaders, and venture capitalists. Some might pin their hopes on the market, thinking that it will look out for our interests, deliver the technologies we want, and weed out those that are not useful or might even do harm. But the market is good at some things and not at others. It rewards profit without regard to social consequences. It prizes efficiency while ignoring other values. It celebrates domination. These priorities are encoded in the algorithms that power new technologies, the metrics that drive company strategy, and the regulatory environment that governs what companies may and may not do.”
― Rob Reich, System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot

“When you can afford anything you want, it's amazing how many things you no longer want.”
― Wayne Gerard Trotman

“Relentless' means insisting on your values no matter how difficult it is”
― Benjamin Suulola

“To see where you came from, you do not need to go back in time. Just check your values, and that will tell you everything.”
― Boris Zubry

“What if each choice about what we bring into our lives became a declaration of our values?”
― Ken Breniman, Subversive Acts of Humanity : A Survival Guide for Choosing Evolution over Self-Destruction

“He possessed the ultimate trump card: a transcendent love for his home, what he called the "navel of the world," and a deep connection to its values, traditions, and teachings.”
― David Davis, Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku

“Ethics guide actions when choices are difficult. Decisions rooted in integrity ensure trust, fairness, and respect. Consistently choosing what is right strengthens character and community.”
― Shivanshu K. Srivastava

“What is sacred is not what we build, but what we protect—quiet places, fragile species, tender truths.”
― Lawrence Nault

“The future isn't written in lines of code or profit margins. It’s written in choices. In community. In care.”
― Lawrence Nault

“Winning every battle doesn't dictate you'll also win the war. Knowing which battles to win can help you win the war.”
― Sasha Laghonh

“Winning every battle doesn't dictate you'll also win the war. Knowing which battles to fight can help you win the war.”
― Sasha Laghonh

“Living authentically means aligning our outer actions with our inner beliefs and desires. It starts with knowing yourself: your values, your likes and dislikes, your boundaries. ... It may mean facing discomfort, disappointing others, or redefining success. Yet the peace that comes from living in alignment is profound”
― Ajmal, from the book "Borders of the Inner World"

“Society often sells us a narrow definition of meaning, equating it with productivity or status. ... But a meaningful life is often built from many small purposes. Enjoying a hobby, listening to a friend, tending to a garden, laughing with family, learning a new skill... these everyday activities can cumulatively create a deeply meaningful existence”
― Ajmal, from the book "Borders of the Inner World"

“Values weren’t rules to obey or weights to bear. They were directions to walk, moment by moment, step by step, not toward certainty but toward aliveness.”
― Ronen Dancziger, The Boxmaker’s Apprentice

“The river doesn’t ask why it flows. It just flows. Purpose is experience, not explanation.”
― Ronen Dancziger, The Boxmaker’s Apprentice

“Everyone has pride, Friend, but the one who bends is the one who truly values the relationship..”
― Anuradha Das

“We all have our lines that we are willing to cross. We get into a problem when we're unforgiving in any way. We offer no grace. That doesn't mean that I don't have lines that I draw, that if people cross it, I won't do. I do try to not be so rigid in the way that I think society has become.”
― Jon Stewart