Beau Biden, a Syracuse University College of Law alumnus and son of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, died Saturday of brain cancer. He was 46.

In 2011, Biden delivered the commencement address for the College of Law. Here are five select quotes from his address:

1. “In the 17 years since I graduated from this great College of Law, I have seen that, for many of us, it becomes increasingly easy to rationalize our actions in the name of expediency when facing difficult decisions—to choose a path where the ends justify the means. I want to ask you to challenge Machiavelli’s philosophy. I want to humbly suggest that you be the guardians of a more complicated truth: that the means are as important—and sometimes even more important—than the ends.”

2. “The question of ends versus means is presented all the time in the practice of law. When the world thinks of lawyers, not everyone thinks of Atticus Finch, but they should. We want counselors who fight for what’s ‘right,’ but we live in a culture where lawyers too often fight for what the client demands, and the more powerful the client the more compelling the demand. Our ability to rationalize cannot be underestimated.”

3. “The decisions you’ll make as lawyers may not determine whether someone lives or dies, but they will have an impact that reaches farther than you may realize. Just because it looks like your views are not reinforced by a majority of your peers, or even your clients, don’t change your views.”

4. “When something seems easy, it is time to question our assumptions, and to challenge ourselves.”

5. “We must strive to recognize that moral codes matter. That we are interdependent. That the means of our conduct must be driven by our conscience, our values, our knowledge and, above all, by our laws. And that our conduct cannot not be blinded by even the most laudable ends.”

The full text of the speech can be found here.

Published on May 31, 2015 at 5:01 pm

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306