All 16 Uses of

principle
in
Invisible Man, by Ellison

I wanted to stop the car and talk with Mr. Norton, to beg his pardon for what he had seen; to plead and show him tears, unashamed tears like those of a child before his parent; to denounce all we'd seen and heard; to assure him that far from being like any of the people we had seen, I hated them, that I believed in the principles of the Founder with all my heart and soul, and that I believed in his own goodness and kindness in extending the hand of his benevolence to helping us poor, ignorant people out of the mire and darkness.†
Chpt 4

principles = basic rules or beliefs

For by selecting me to speak with its authority on a subject which elsewhere in our society I'd have found taboo, weren't they reaffirming their belief both in me and in the principles of Brotherhood, proving that they drew no lines even when it came to women?†
Chpt 18

Was that also what Rinehart was, a principle of hope for which they gladly paid?†
Chpt 23 *

principle = basic rule or belief

Could he have meant-hell, he must have meant the principle, that we were to affirm the principle on which the country was built and not the men, or at least not the men who did the violence.†
Chpt Epil.

Could he have meant-hell, he must have meant the principle, that we were to affirm the principle on which the country was built and not the men, or at least not the men who did the violence.†
Chpt Epil.

Did he mean say "yes" because he knew that the principle was greater than the men, greater than the numbers and the vicious power and all the methods used to corrupt its name?†
Chpt Epil.

Did he mean to affirm the principle, which they themselves had dreamed into being out of the chaos and darkness of the feudal past, and which they had violated and compromised to the point of absurdity even in their own corrupt minds?†
Chpt Epil.

Or did he mean that we had to take the responsibility for all of it, for the men as well as the principle, because we were the heirs who must use the principle because no other fitted our needs?†
Chpt Epil.

Or did he mean that we had to take the responsibility for all of it, for the men as well as the principle, because we were the heirs who must use the principle because no other fitted our needs?†
Chpt Epil.

Was it that we of all, we, most of all, had to affirm the principle, the plan in whose name we had been brutalized and sacrificed-not because we would always be weak nor because we were afraid or opportunistic, but because we were older than they, in the sense of what it took to live in the world with others and because they had exhausted in us, some-not much, but some-of the human greed and smallness, yes, and the fear and superstition that had kept them running.†
Chpt Epil.

Or was it, did he mean that we should affirm the principle because we, through no fault of our own, were linked to all the others in the loud, clamoring semi-visible world, that world seen only as a fertile field for exploitation by Jack and his kind, and with condescension by Norton and his, who were tired of being the mere pawns in the futile game of "making history"?†
Chpt Epil.

Had he seen that for these too we had to say "yes" to the principle, lest they turn upon us to destroy both it and us?†
Chpt Epil.

Hell, weren't they their own death and their own destruction except as the principle lived in them and in us?†
Chpt Epil.

It was his, and the principle lives on in all its human and absurd diversity.†
Chpt Epil.

You won't believe in my invisibility and you'll fail to see how any principle that applies to you could apply to me.†
Chpt Epil.

Definitions:

(1) (principle)
a basic rule or belief
The exact meaning of principle can depend upon its context. For example:
- "our guiding principles" -- basic moral beliefs that guide decisions and behavior
- "electromagnetic principles" -- rules describing how the world works
- "She lacks principles." -- lacks moral guidelines
- "We agree in principle." -- about important basic beliefs
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

See a comprehensive dictionary for more specialized senses including one in chemistry.