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About this quote

What does it mean?
In politics, integrity sometimes requires taking a principled stand even if it leads to defeat.
In plain terms
You should stand for what is right even if you know you will lose.
What can you take from it?
Principle matters more than winning in political leadership.

Where it applies

  • political campaigns
  • ethical dilemmas
  • voting decisions

Putting it to work

  • stand by principles
  • value integrity over victory

Questions to consider

  • Is it better to lose with honor or win by compromise?
  • What defines a right side?

Another view

It assumes that losing for the right reason is always better than compromising.

More from John Kenneth Galbraith

  1. The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

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  2. Trickle-down theory - the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.

    Permalink to quote #80
  3. The happiest time of anyone's life is just after the first divorce.

    Permalink to quote #77

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