Quotes About Morality

T]o be unfaithful to my maxim of prudence may often be very advantageous to me, although to abide by it is certainly safer.

For morality, with regard to its principles of public right (hence in relation to a political code which can be known a priori), has the peculiar feature that the less it makes its conduct depend upon the end it envisages (whether this be a physical or moral advantage), the more it will in general harmonise with this end.

People who read mainly the Grounding and the Critique often criticize Kant for having his head in the clouds and for not being convincingly capable of dealing with concrete cases. A reading of the Metaphysics of Morals will show anyone how unfounded such criticisms are.

Agisci in modo da considerare l'umanità, sia nella tua persona, sia nella persona di ogni altro, sempre anche come scopo, e mai come semplice mezzo.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made

Footnote: The real morality of actions—their merit or demerit, and even that of our own conduct, is completely unknown to us. Our estimates can relate only to their empirical character. How much is the result of the action of free will, how much is to be ascribed to nature and to blameless error, or to a happy constitution of temperament (merito fortunae), no one can discover, nor, for this reason, determine with perfect justice.]

The sight of a being who is not adorned with a single feature of a pure and good will, enjoying unbroken prosperity, can never give pleasure to an impartial rational spectator. Thus a good will appears to constitute the indispensable condition even of being worthy of happiness.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no truly straight thing was ever made.

A good will is good not because of what it performs or effects, not by its aptness for the attainment of some proposed end, but simply by virtue of the volition - that is, it is good in itself, and considered by itself is to be esteemed much higher than all that can be brought about by it in favor of any inclination, nay, even of the sum-total of all inclinations... like a jewel, it would still shine by its own light, as a thing which has its whole value in itself.

The rights of men must be held sacred, however great the cost of sacrifice may be to those in power. Here one cannot go halfway, cooking up hybrid, pragmatically-conditioned rights (which are somewhere between the right and the expedient); instead, all politics must bend its knee before morality...

Conscience is an instinct to pass judgment upon ourselves in accordance with moral laws.

Would it not therefore be wiser in moral concerns to acquiesce in the judgement of common reason, or at most only to call in philosophy for the purpose of rendering the system of morals more complete and intelligible, and its rules more convenient for use (especially for disputation), but not so as to draw off the common understanding from its happy simplicity, or to bring it by means of philosophy into a new path of inquiry and instruction?

Um fremden Wert willig und frei anzuerkennen, muß man eigenen haben.

Jeg skal alltid handle slik at den regelen jeg handler etter kunne gjelde som allmenn lov.

if the unfortunate man, strong of soul, more indignant about his fate than despondent or dejected, wishes for death, and yet preserves his life, without loving it, not from inclination, or fear, but from duty; then his maxim has a moral content.

Gustavo Solivellas dice: Incluso los filósofos elogiarán la guerra como ennobleciendo a la humanidad, olvidando al griego que dijo: La guerra es mala porque engendra más mal que el que mata (Immanuel Kant)

starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.

if freedom were determined by laws, it would not be freedom, but would itself be nothing else but nature.

Het is geheel en al onmogelijk om in de wereld en zelfs ook daarbuiten iets te bedenken wat zonder restrictie voor goed gehouden kan worden, behalve dan een GOEDE WIL.

The pre-eminent good which we call moral can therefore consist in nothing else than the conception of law in itself, which certainly is only possible in a rational being, in so far as this conception, and not the expected effect, determines the will. This is a good which is already present in the person who acts accordingly, and we have not to wait for it to appear first in the result. *

KövetkezÅ'leg a háborúba önmagában valami belsÅ' méltóságot helyeznek, annyira, hogy annak olykor még filozófusok is, mint az emberiség bizonyos megnemesülésének, dicsÅ'ítÅ' beszédet tartanak, megfeledkezve ama görögnek mondásáról: "A háború abban rossz, hogy több rossz embert csinál, mint amennyit elpusztít.

Rectitude is the power of deciding upon a certain course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering—to die when it is right to die, to strike when to strike is right.

Art and morality are, with certain provisos…one. Their essence is the same. The essence of both of them is love. Love is the perception of individuals. Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.

We need a moral philosophy which can speak significantly of Freud and Marx and out of which aesthetic and political views can be generated. We need a moral philosophy in which the concept of love, so rarely mentioned now, can once again be made central.