Definition: an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct; a guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right behavior
Derivation: Latin, “source or foundation”
Quotes:
• When virtue is lost, benevolence appears; when benevolence is lost, right conduct appears; when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder. — Lao-tse (6th Century BC) Chinese mystic philosopher
• There are three principles in a man’s being and life, the principle of thought, the principle of speech, and the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean and I don’t do what I say. — Martin Buber (1878-1965) Austrian philosopher