140 Decent Quotes

Following is our list of decent quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about decent life.

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Famous Decent Quotes

Decency is indecency's conspiracy of silence — George Bernard Shaw

If you don't believe in God, all you have to believe in is decency. Decency is very good. Better decent than indecent. But I don't think it's enough. — Harold MacMillan

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency. — Theodore Roosevelt

God's most lordly gift to man is decency of mind. — Aeschylus

Morals are private. Decency is public. — Rita Mae Brown

Decency and tolerance, to be of any value, must be capable of withstanding the severest strain. — Mahatma Gandhi

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense. - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Decency never goes out of style. Kindness is always cool. Helpfulness is still hip. — Robin S. Sharma

Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed. — Francois de la Rochefoucauld

Justice consists of doing no one injury, decency in giving no one offense. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Mediocrity is underrated. — Mary-Louise Parker

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it. — Christopher Hitchens

Mediocrity is excellent to the eyes of mediocre people. — Joseph Joubert

A gentleman considers what is right; the vulgar consider what will pay. — Confucius

Ethics, decency and morality are the real soldiers — Kiran Bedi

Short Decent Quotes

  • Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. — Nelson Mandela
  • Thinking in generations also means enabling our young to have a decent standard of living. — Paul Tsongas
  • Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. — H. L. Mencken
  • A decent boldness ever meets with friends. — Homer
  • Coffee better be halfway decent for us, because if not, I am dying young. — Will Bulsiewicz
  • I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal. — Groucho Marx
  • You can't criticize people for wanting to have a decent life or wanting to live decently. — Angela Davis
  • Senator McConnell is by all accounts a decent person. He's pretty conservative, too. — Tucker Carlson
  • We can't have a decent government unless those in power exercise self restraint. — William Howard Taft
  • My husband will never chase another woman. He's too fine, too decent, too old. — Gracie Allen

Decent Image Quotes

Decent quote Life is very short. If people aren't decent, kind, accountable, responsible, or responsive, man up a
Life is very short. If people aren't decent, kind, accountable, responsible, or responsive, man up and get rid of them.

Being Decent Quotes

When people appear to be something other than good and decent, it is only because they are reacting to stress, pain, or the deprivation of basic human needs such as security, love, and self-esteem. — Abraham Maslow

So if people have an opportunity for a decent job, a decent education, a decent health care system and security, I know that forceful migration will be reduced to zero. —

If we lived in an even somewhat decent and sane society the Epstein child sex ring would be the lead story everyday. ABC would have seen mass firings for the coverup and all of the powerful people associated would be relentlessly hassled by the press to explain their involvement. — Dave Smith

The poor prey on one another because their lives offer no hope and communicate the tragic message to these human beings that they have no possibility to attain a decent standard of living. — Thabo Mbeki

The one thing ... that is truly ugly is the climate of hate and intimidation, created by a noisy few, which makes the decent majority reluctant to air in public their views on anything controversial. ... Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all. — Edward Abbey

There are people who've said that I'm being brave for being openly supportive of gay marriage, gay adoption... With all due respect, I humbly dissent. I am not being brave, I'm a decent human being... Love is a human experience, not a political statement — Anne Hathaway

With 20 hours of focused effort, most people can be pretty decent at something. The problem is that most people spend years waiting to do the first hour. — Alex Hormozi

Don't try to be spiritual. That is only a word in the dictionary. Make it your goal to become a normally functioning individual. Let these principles shape you according to your real nature of a simple, decent, honest, unafraid human being. — Vernon Howard

Reality may not be the best of all possible worlds, but it's still the only place where you can get a decent steak. — Woody Allen

I'm more than ever of the opinion that a decent human existence is possible today only on the fringes of society, where one then runs the risk of starving or being stoned to death. In these circumstances, a sense of humor is a great help. — Hannah Arendt

Decent Life Quotes

A new era will dawn in Africa, when the impoverished masses of a nation rise up to rescue their right to a decent life from the hands of the ruling oligarchies. — Che Guevara

I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we've got to do it right. We've got to give those animals a decent life, and we've got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect. — Temple Grandin

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life . . . — Nelson Mandela

My job in this life is to give people spiritual ecstasy through music. In my concerts people cry, laugh, dance. If they climaxed spiritually, I did my job. I did it decently and honestly. — Carlos Santana

The duty of loyalty and gratitude to a homeland that provides decent and happy life for all of its citizens and residents requires that we all deeply engrave it in our hearts at all times. — Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

No offer? No business. No life. Bad offer? Negative profit. No business. Miserable life. Decent offer? No profit. Stagnating business. Stagnating life. Good offer? Some profit. Okay business. Okay life. Grand Slam Offer? Fantastic profit. Insane business. Freedom. — Alex Hormozi

We all have limitations. I don't have the right genes to be an Olympic weightlifter. I don't have the right genetics to be an Olympic sprinter. Or gymnast. Sure, if I trained my whole life, perhaps I could have become fairly decent in those sports. — Jocko Willink

I sincerely believe the word "relationships" is the key to the prospect of a decent world [and life]. It seems abundantly clear that every problem you will have - in your family, in your business, in our nation, or in this world - is essentially a matter of relationships, of interdependence. — Clarence Francis

Can we really believe that we are living a good life, an ethically decent life if we don't do anything serious to help reduce poverty around the world and help save the lives of children or adults who are likely to die if we don't increase the amount of aid we are giving. — Peter Singer

Would you rather live one perfect day over and over or live your life with no perfect days but just decent ones? — Jenny Han

Decent Man Quotes

There are two races of men in this world but only these two: the race of the decent man and the race of the indecent man. — Viktor E. Frankl

I'm for the poor man - all poor men, black and white, they all gotta have a chance. They gotta have a home, a job, and a decent education for their children. 'Every man a king' - that's my slogan. — Huey Long

A cultivated and decent man cannot be vain without setting a fearfully high standard for himself, and without despising and almost hating himself at certain moments. — Fyodor Dostoevsky

A decent and manly examination of the acts of government should not only be tolerated, but encouraged. — William Henry Harrison

No professional politician is ever actually in favor of public economy. It is his implacable enemy, and he knows it. All professional politicians are dedicated wholeheartedly to waste and corruption. They are the enemies of every decent man. — H. L. Mencken

Everybody now seems to be talking about democracy. I don't understand this. As I think of it, democracy isn't like a Sunday suit to be brought out and worn only for parades. It's the kind of a life a decent man leads, it's something to live for and to die for. — Dalton Trumbo

President Eisenhower was a fine general and a good, decent man, but if he had fought World War II the way he fought for civil rights, we would all be speaking German now. — Roy Wilkins

The state remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men. — H. L. Mencken

Any gun in the hands of a bad man is a bad thing. Any gun in the hands of a decent person is no threat to anybody — except bad people. — Charlton Heston

There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind. — Fyodor Dostoevsky

Some Decent Quotes

An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor or Baal or the golden calf. We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. — Richard Dawkins

Every young sculptor seems to think that he must give the world some specimen of indecorous womanhood, and call it Eve, Venus, a Nymph, or any name that may apologize for a lack of decent clothing. — Nathaniel Hawthorne

Dwarves are not heroes, but a calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much. — J. R. R. Tolkien

I like them all - I don't always approve. I see myself as a sort of benevolent uncle to these characters, and I can see why they do what they do; sometimes they make some mistakes, but at heart I think they're decent. — Patrick Marber

I think you'll make more money in the end with good ethics than bad. Even though there are some people who do very well, like Marc Rich-who plainly has never had any decent ethics, or seldom anyway. But in the end, Warren Buffett has done better than Marc Rich-in money-not just in reputation. — Charlie Munger

I only have to do three things to look halfway decent. Curl my eyelashes, fill in my eyebrows and put some lipstick on. — Courteney Cox

You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains. Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime. I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have to reap. — Glenn Hoddle

Hang ideas! They are tramps, vagabonds, knocking at the back-door of your mind, each taking a little of your substance, each carrying away some crumb of that belief in a few simple notions you must cling to if you want to live decently and would like to die easy! — Joseph Conrad

If I were founding a university I would begin with a smoking room; next a dormitory; and then a decent reading room and a library. After that, if I still had more money that I couldn't use, I would hire a professor and get some text books. — Stephen Leacock

An awful lot of fantasy, and even some great fantasy, falls into the mistake of assuming that a good man will be a good king, that all that is necessary is to be a decent human being and when you're king everything will go swimmingly. — George R. R. Martin

Decent Work Quotes

Decent work is at the heart of the search for dignity for the individual, stability for the family and peace in the community — Juan Somavia

I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do. — Audre Lorde

I would rather have 1 amazing best friend than 100 decent regular friends. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. — Connor Franta

How I wish everyone had decent work! It is essential for human dignity. — Pope Francis

The point of nonviolence is to build a floor, a strong new floor, beneath which we can no longer sink. A platform which stands a few feet above napalm, torture, exploitation, poison gas, A and H bombs, the works. Give man a decent place to stand. — Joan Baez

The Paris slums are a gathering-place for eccentric people - people who have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behavior, just as money frees people from work. — George Orwell

My mother taught me what it is to have a sense of humour; my dad, who was a headmaster, everything you need to know about hard work. My dad is the most decent man you could come across. — James Nesbitt

A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the lord in vain- then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system? — Robert A. Heinlein

Habitat gives us an opportunity which is very difficult to find: to reach out and work side by side with those who never have had a decent home-but work with them on a completely equal basis. It's not a big-shot, little-shot relationship. It's a sense of equality. — Jimmy Carter

If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement. — Iain Duncan Smith

Decent Woman Quotes

My mother was a great woman. To look at her from the suffering she had gone through to bring us up - 20 children: 6 girls and 14 boys, but still she taught us to be decent and to respect ourselves, and that is one of the things that has kept me going, even after she passed. — Fannie Lou Hamer

That ephemeral sheet,... the newspaper, is the natural enemy of the book, as the whore is of the decent woman. — Edmond de Goncourt

It is ridiculous to take on a man's job just in order to be able to say that 'a woman has done it - yah!' The only decent reason for tackling a job is that it is your job and you want to do it. — Dorothy L. Sayers

A struggle for existence is not a decent living. A man or woman or child may die of starvation in a city teeming with plenty. Only human life is concerned. — Susette La Flesche

Women of the working class, especially wage workers, should not have more than two children at most. The average working man can support no more and and the average working woman can take care of no more in decent fashion. — Margaret Sanger

Real Texans don't want any woman to die of cancer because she can't get decent health care or medical advice. Real Texans don't want any woman to lose control of her life because she can't get birth control. — Wendy Davis

People will say what they want to say, and it's okay. And my life will go on, and I need to focus on my life. So, do I need to defend that I'm a decent woman? I sure hope I don't. I know I am. — Angelina Jolie

Why waste your life working for a few shillings a week in a scullery, eighteen hours a day, when a woman could earn a decent wage by selling her body instead? — Emma Goldman

If the village worker is not a decent man or woman, conducting a decent home, he or she had better not aspire after the high privilege and honour of becoming a village worker. — Mahatma Gandhi

I wanted [Martin] to be a really decent human being because I didn't want to depict the cliché that a woman becomes a lesbian because her husband is terrible to her. — Patricia Rozema

Decent Guys Quotes

If a guy is a good athlete, he'll end up being a pretty decent golfer if he just takes it up. But you never master it; even the best players in the world never master the game. — Jack Nicklaus

I've always felt that there's a very thin membrane between madness and alcoholism, and/or destitution and being an OK American guy in a comfortable heated apartment with meatballs and a decent Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge. — August Kleinzahler

I'm the complete opposite of every clean cut, decent-looking guy you could ever think of. Yet, I have the biggest heart in the world. — A. J. McLean

I never duck out of a fight; I don't care what the hell the odds are, and I'm rough at times, but I try to be a decent guy all the time. That's the way I've always lived. — Jack Kirby

I'd been trying for a while to get parts that weren't just the English bad guy, so it was quite refreshing to be playing someone who was a compassionate, decent guy. — Sean Bean

If a guy as good and decent with as much grace as Chuck Heston can stand up for an issue that I think is very important ... then I certainly could stand up and I plan on remaining a life member for life. — Tom Selleck

It took me six months to redeem myself at least to have another chance to at least have her get to know me and let her know I was at least a decent guy and to give me a shot. And here we are, we've been married seven years. — Drew Brees

I think I'm a decent-looking guy. Sometimes I can look great, and other times I look horrifying. — Bradley Cooper

Everyone who knew [Barack] Obama from being in Hyde Park knew he was the smartest guy in any room he walked into; a decent, compassionate, lovely person; pragmatic, middle-of-the-road and ambitious. — Bill Ayers

Certainly some guy eating cardboard in Cincinnati has lost any ordinary impetus to review your novel decently if he's just read you just got six figures out of Warner Bros - which incidentally was not true. — William Monahan

People Writing About Decent

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Read quotes by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero
quotes on law

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Read quotes by George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw
quotes on happiness, life and communication

1399 16489
Read quotes by Harold MacMillan

Harold MacMillan
quotes on education, leadership and war

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Read quotes by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt
quotes on leadership, imperialism and nature

752 11364
Read quotes by Aeschylus

Aeschylus
quotes on death, grief and dreams

326 1988
Read quotes by Rita Mae Brown

Rita Mae Brown
quotes on language

228 1756

More Decent Quotes

The individual comes face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind has not come to a realisation of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent. — J. Edgar Hoover

Americans of good-will, the nice decent church people, the well-meaning liberals, the good hearted souls who themselves wouldn't lynch anyone, must begin to realize that they have to be more than passively good-hearted, more than church goingly Christian, and much more than word-of-mouth in the liberalism. — Langston Hughes

And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. — Paul the Apostle

The practice of assertiveness: being authentic in our dealings with others; treating our values and persons with decent respect in social contexts; refusing to fake the reality of who we are or what we esteem in order to avoid disapproval; the willingness to stand up for ourselves and our ideas in appropriate ways in appropriate contexts. — Nathaniel Branden

As for the Republicans -- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, [and] steel their emotions against decent human sympathy. — H. P. Lovecraft

No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country... By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level - I mean the wages of decent living. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

That should stay in the hands of the private sector so that they scientists earn their keep serving others with goods of better quality at better prices, as decent people do. — Javier Milei

Communism and socialism is [sic] seductive. It promises us that people will contribute according to ability and receive according to needs. Everybody is equal. Everybody has a right to decent housing, decent food and affordable medical care. History should have taught us that when we hear people talk this stuff - watch out! — Walter E. Williams

When you're finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend and you're going to get a concept that maybe this is really one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people? — Frank Borman

The largest challenge that we face, from my perspective, is the ability to continue moving forward so the agency will have a single mission: that is, to provide decent, safe, and affordable housing. — Alphonso Jackson

Nobody loves a good worship service more than I do, but we are called to make religion real, to make our faith come alive. Helping others have a decent place to live is one way to do that and it doesn't take too long for others to recognize it, too. — Millard Fuller

Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives. — Barry Goldwater

When I lay my head on the pillow at night I can say I was a decent person today. That's when I feel beautiful. — Drew Barrymore

You definitely need a really decent bomb-proof summit suit, because that's what you wear in these extreme conditions and at extreme altitude. — Nirmal Purja

We will make a country that is more prosperous and that can provide decent paying jobs for all of our people. — Nayib Bukele

I feel that the dormant goodwill in people needs to be stirred. People need to hear that it makes sense to behave decently or to help others, to place common interests above their own, to respect the elementary rules of human coexistence. — Vaclav Havel

Resveratrol had a decent benefit when the mice were obese and sedentary. The mice that were fed a lean diet and resveratrol lived significantly longer than other treated mice as well as those that had no healthy diet and no resveratrol. So resveratrol is not an excuse to be lazy or eat whatever you want. — David Sinclair

Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead. — Kurt Vonnegut

But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps-who works in a foreign land-will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace. — John F. Kennedy

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