take the high road

[ teyk thuh hahy rohd ]

idiom

1. to take a more honorable or ethical course of action:

   The moderator is hoping that candidates will take the high road on debate night and stick to discussing the issues instead of flinging mud at each other.

Word History and Origins

Origin of take the high road¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

He also seemed to take the high road.

From Los Angeles Times

“I say I have no regrets,” writes Jones, an award-winning former president of the Louisiana Assn. of School Librarians, who during the online bullying against her used an expletive to describe a parish councilman, “but I do have one, and that is the fact that, try as I might, I didn’t always take the high road.”

From Los Angeles Times

Few have had much luck, whether they try to take the high road or get down and dirty with Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

From Seattle Times

The first song Jarosz wrote with Tashian was “Take the High Road,” with a chiming chorus that declares, “It won’t be the easy way/Saying what you want to say.”

From New York Times

That’s where you kinda have to think bigger and you have to be a bigger human around it all and learn how to be really forgiving and take the high road.

From Seattle Times