Quotes from Max Weber

Wealth is thus bad ethically only in so far as it is a temptation to idleness and sinful enjoyment of life, and its acquisition is bad only when it is with the purpose of later living merrily and without care. But

Especially begging, on the part of one able to work, is not only the sin of slothfulness, but a violation of the duty of brotherly love according to the Apostle's own word. 

But at least one thing was unquestionably new: the valuation of the fulfillment of duty in worldly affairs as the highest form which the moral activity of the individual could assume. This

The conceptions of idle talk, of superfluities, and of vain ostentation, all designations of an irrational attitude without objective purpose, thus

An attitude of moral indifference has no connection with scientific "objectivity".

The only way of living acceptably to God was not to surpass worldly morality in monastic asceticism, but solely through the fulfillment of the obligations imposed upon the individual by his position in the world. That was his calling. 

Of course the Catholic ethic was an ethic of intentions. But the concrete intentio of the single act determined its value. And the single good or bad action was credited to the doer determining his temporal and eternal fate. Quite realistically the Church recognized that man was not an absolutely clearly defined unity to be judged one way or the other, but that his moral life was normally subject to conflicting motives and his action contradictory.

Pessoalmente, jamais admiti que, ao longo de uma discussão, se procurasse garantir vantagem exibindo a certidão de nascimento. (...) Não importa a idade, mas sim a soberana competência do olhar, que sabe ver as realidades da vida, e a força da alma que é capaz de suportá-las e de elevar-se à altura delas

Loss of time through sociability, idle talk, luxury," even more sleep than is necessary for health, six to at most eight hours, is worthy of absolute moral condemnation. It

The task of the teacher is to serve the students with his knowledge and scientific experience and not to imprint upon them his personal political views.

The monastic life is not only quite devoid of value as a means of justification before God, but he also looks upon its renunciation of the duties of this world as the product of selfishness, withdrawing from temporal obligations. In

Renaissance of Roman Law was overcome by the power of the great legal corporations

Yet it is a fact that no amount of such enthusiasm, however sincere and profound it may be, can compel a problem to yield scientific results.

It is somewhat too convenient to demonstrate one's courage in taking a stand where the audience and possible opponents are condemned to silence.

The Quaker ethic also holds that a man's life in his calling is an exercise in ascetic virtue, a proof of his  state of grace through his conscientiousness, which is expressed in the care  and method with which he pursues his calling. What

The effect of the Reformation as such was only that, as compared with the Catholic attitude, the moral emphasis on and the religious sanction of, organized worldly labor in a calling was mightily increased.

Sólo quien está seguro de no quebrarse cuando, desde su punto de vista, el mundo se muestra demasiado estúpido o demasiado abyecto para lo que él le ofrece; sólo quien frente a todo esto es capaz de responder con un «sin embargo»; sólo un hombre de esta forma construido tiene «vocación» para la política.

The Puritan, like every rational type of asceticism, tried to enable a man to maintain and act upon his constant motives, especially those which it g in itself, against the emotions. In

Judgments of the importance of a historical phenomena may be judgments of value or faith, namely, when they refer to what is alone interesting, or alone in the long run valuable to it. Or, on the other hand, they may refer to its influence on other historical processes as a causal factor.

Capitalism existed in China, India, Babylon, in the classic world, and in the Middle Ages.

The influence of the God-fearing but perfectly unemotional wisdom of the Hebrews, which is expressed in the books most read by the Puritans, the

All the great religious doctrines of Asia are creations of intellectuals.

it is not true that good can follow only from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true. Anyone who fails to see this is, indeed, a political infant.

The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world.