Quotes About Morality

In the new view, human beings are a species splendid in their array of moral equipment, tragic in their propensity to misuse it, and pathetic in their constitutional ignorance of the misuse. The title of this book is not wholly without irony.

This may sound paradoxical: one can, from a Darwinism vantage point, advise sexual restraint for women, roughly echoing traditional moral exhortation, while at the same time decrying the moral censure of women who don't take the advice. But you might as well get used to the paradox, for it's part of a more general Darwinism slant on morality.

The brain is like a good lawyer: given any set of interests to defend, it sets about convincing the world of their moral and logical worth, regardless of whether they in fact have any of either. Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than for virtue.

In every guilty man, there is an element of innocence. This is what makes any absolute condemnation revolting. We do not think enough about pain" Albert Camus

Leadership is about doing what you know is right - even when a growing din of voices around you is trying to convince you to accept what you know to be wrong.

Hay momentos en nuestra vida en que tenemos necesidad de ser canallas, de ensuciarnos hasta adentro, de hacer alguna infamia, yo qué sé..., de destrozar para siempre la vida de un hombre... y después de hecho eso podremos volver a caminar tranquilos.

sólo el crimen puede afirmar mi existencia, como sólo el mal afirma la presencia del hombre sobre la tierra.

Recordaba ahora que el cadáver tenía la boca de los pantalones enfangada, la camisa sucia y húmeda y, a pesar de ello, ¿cómo había llegado a hacerse querer por la jovencita que mató? ¿Existía entonces el amor? A pesar de sus dos mujeres y de sus ocho hijos dispersos y de su vida crapulosa de ladrón y estafador, el asesino amaba.

One has a moral obligation to take responsibility for one's actions, and that includes one's words and silences, yes, one's silences, because silences rise to heaven too, and God hears them, and only God understands and judges them, so one must be very careful with one's silences.

If it was true that all effort led to a vast abyss, she had two recommendations to begin with, first, not to cheat people, and, second, to treat them properly. Beyond that, there was room for discussion.

Then they talked about freedom and evil, about the highways of freedom where evil is like a Ferrari.

Uno tiene la obligación moral de ser responsable de sus actos y también de sus palabras e incluso de sus silencios, sí, de sus silencios, porque también los silencios ascienden al cielo y los oye Dios y sólo Dios los comprende y los juzga, así que mucho cuidado con los silencios

Lying is for the weak-minded. If you can't think of a truthful way to solve your problems, you're not thinking hard enough.

Ever notice folks can justify damned near anything, 'cause they're always the heroes n their own stories?

The blending in people's minds of art, status and virtue is an extension of Bell's principle of sartorial morality: people find dignity in the signs of an honourably futile existence removed from all menial necessities.

Learning is never wrong. Even learning how to kill isn't wrong. Or right. It's just a thing to learn, a thing I can teach you. That's all.

Somehow," she said coldly, "you have confused profitable and not profitable for right and wrong. I, however, have not.

That's how it's done, Trell. You break your heart against this stony world. You fling yourself at it, on the side of good, and you do not ask the cost. That's how you do it.

There would always be dishonorable things done to preserve the honor of any power.

There were times when taking vengeance for the dead seemed too high a price for abandoning the living. I

Men deny animals have feelings and thoughts for one basic reason: so they won't feel guilty about what they do to them.

Do you think you're taking Etta out of here?" "Yes," Kennit called over his shoulder up the sairs. "What about all these dead men?" she shrieked after him as they strode out of her house. "Those you may keep," Kennit replied.

People have to attempt to do right, even if they believe they cannot succeed

Any human who dared to attack a dragon deserved to die himself. And dead, of what use was he, unless someone ate him? She didn't see why leaving a human to be eaten by worms was more acceptable.