To give you one quote off my list:
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

One more then:
Anybody you will ever meet knows something you don't.

One very last one:
The application of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is only commonly employed by small children and large nations.

The law of competition. That's about it.

Mark Cuban said "the only thing you can really control is your effort" and I try to think about that whenever I am feeling lazy or procrastinating.

"Sometimes you're wrong" is a good precept. Humility is a virtue oft forgotten in our egocentric society.

The Sermon on the Mount is a good source for basic moral precepts. I also recommend drawing on the principles in the 12 Steps of AA.

Ignoring the rather sales-y aspects of this site, the list of affirmations for secular humanism have always seemed like solid ground rules to me:

http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=affirmations

Well, thanks for the compliments and the quotes...
Good quotes...
Do you literally have a list? If so maybe you could post or link the whole list?

Also, I always felt like following one rule I made myself but I just don't for some reason:

Always trust someone.

I just don't know who, and now I'm starting to wonder if it's a good rule, and if so, where to start...

The idea was that, if you trust someone, he will stop you when you make mistakes...

I've been putting a lot of thought into things like this and I might share them here later, but for now I have very little time so I'll go in deeper later I think...

Just curious what wediplomacy thinks I suppose...

I was talking to Minister of War with that post, counts for everyone though, but that makes it look less weird :)
Apparently I was typing very slow :)

steephie what do you want to be when you grow up?

1) Action generally beats inaction

2) Don't lie, cheat or steal to advance yourself if that leads to the detriment of others.

3) Consider carefully the consequences of any significant action and only proceed if you can live with them.

redhouse1938: nothing decisive yet but I want to make a difference, a big one and a good one if I can...

Try harder than that. If you want to make a big difference you can simply subtract a large number from a very small one and you're done with life. What do you want to *do*?

Alternately, you can take what are (in my mind) the two greatest lessons I've learned from reading sci-fi:

"Share pain is lessened, shared joy is increased; thus do we refute entropy." ~Spider Robinson
"Violence is the last resort of the incompetent." ~Isaac Asimov

I've got some idea's but I was planning to go to bed early and have some school stuff to do too so I won't tell them today I think...

@ jmbo

"Violence is the last resort of the incompetent." ~Isaac Asimov

Very true! The competent get in with a good right hook before the other chap knows what his first resort even is :)

Alright but then I can't tell you the rule that goes with that aspiration...

Then why don't you come up with some idea's redhouse?

Sounds stupid but my sister gave me this book for my 16th birthday. And for the most part I strongly agree with it and try to live by what the books says.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rules-Unborn-Son-Walker-Lamond/dp/0312608950/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362425789&sr=8-1

1) Don't kill or rape anybody.
2) don't steal anything that can't be downloaded
3) Most people are reasonable and smarter than you think they are - LISTEN FIRST
4) Some people are idiots, they respond only to pain or humiliation. Be the first to provide them with it.
5) Everybody loves to flirt. Unless you're ugly. Then not so much.
6) Vote progressive, live conservative.
7) Be grateful you don't have AIDS
8) Words to live by: "What would I do if I could do all that I can?"

Can I just say we have a high density of awesome threads today. Thanks steephie!

I do have a list, though I don't track it on paper or anything. I figure I remember the important ones. If I forget one, I accept the fact that, for now, it has lost its relevance. Often during my life, old ones pop up once again.

I like the one to always trust someone. If you are in a state that you do not trust anyone, you really have a problem.

How old are you steephie?

@redhouse: I know what I want to be when I grow up, tell me the quote please!

Although I should add, I really do collect the quotes I find inspiring. I think I could literally quote you dozens that inspire me. But I need to sleep, so another time mayhaps.

15 years old...

I mean like, "actively" trust someone, so tell them everything important and seek their approval for important decisions...

It's not like I fear everyone is going to stab me in the back but I don't tell people a lot either...

Yeah, agreed. And one other, hold on to people you trust. Friends sometimes do last forever.

If you're fifteen, and interested in issues of morality and societal change, you really could do worse than pick up Marcus Aurelius. A Roman emperor reflecting on life in an accessible and readable way, what's not to like?
/sleep

I'm a member of Rotary International, which suggests not rules, but four questions to ask about the things you think, say, or do. We call it the four-way test:
1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build good will and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

(Naturally, I suspend the four-way test while playing Diplomacy.)

I think I have my ethics straight, and I'm either not interested or have already figured it out with societal change I think, although it sounds a bit vague to me...

But does Aurelius reflect his own life? That doesn't sound particulary useful to me, I'm not an emperor you see... :)

"(Naturally, I suspend the four-way test while playing Diplomacy.)"
+1

You mess with him or his, that's his problem. You mess with me or mine, you answer to me.

When they were teenagers I always wanted to let my daughters' boyfriends know that I owned a shotgun and a shovel and that there were 300 acres of woodland behind the house.

I try also to follow this rule: assume people are honest, honorable, and well-meaning until they prove otherwise.

(This also is suspended during games of Diplomacy.)