If we were each given a blank sheet of paper, how many of us would be able to list the principles that guide our lives? Day-to-day living makes so many demands that sometimes it feels more than enough just to react as best we can to whatever happens, hoping it will all turn out OK.

Yet most of us have plenty of principles, even if we’re not aware of them. What is it that angers us or gets the fire churning in our gut? Getting upset is often the sign that a principle we hold strongly has been breached. It touches on something that says “No!” We may be surprised by the passion and strength that is alive in us.

Principles give us strength. They provide the foundations from which we find the power and energy to make a stand about the things that matter to us. They keep our aspirations on track. Like the spokes of a bicycle wheel, they give stability and help us move forward in a purposeful way. What can we each do to be true to our principles, and use them skilfully to build a happy life?

"We can not abdicate our conscience to an organization, nor to a government."

• Albert Schweitzer

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."

• Alfred Adler

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

• Dwight D Eisenhower

"Important principles may and must be inflexible."

• Abraham Lincoln

"Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value."

• Albert Einstein