Quotes About Morality

Morality never faileth; but, whether there be dogmas, they shall fail; whether there be creeds, they shall cease; whether there be churches, they shall crumble away; but morality shall abide for evermore and endure as long as the endless circle of Nature revolves around the Eternal Throne.

Does morality consist in obedience to the will of a perfectly moral Being, and are we to aim at righteousness of life because in so doing we please God? Or are we to lead noble lives because nobility of life is desirable for itself alone, and because it spreads happiness around us and satisfies the desires of our own nature?

To all men alike, good and evil, is laid open Nature's revelation of morality, as exemplified in the highest human lives.

True religion consists not only in feelings towards God, but also in duties towards men.

Empty-brained triflers who have never tried to think, who take their creed as they take their fashions, speak of atheism as the outcome of foul life and vicious desires.

Everyone knows the beautiful story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac. How this noble father led his child to the slaughter; how Isaac meekly submitted; how the farce went on till the lad was bound and laid on the altar, and how God then stopped the murder, and blessed the intending murderer for his willingness to commit the crime.

It is not monogamy when there is one legal wife, and mistresses out of sight.

If men would try to read nature instead of revelation, if they would study natural laws and leave revealed laws, if they would follow human morality instead of ecclesiastical morality, then there might be some chance of real improvement for the race, and some hope that the Divine Voice in Nature might be heard above the babble of the Churches.

Belief in hell takes all beauty from virtue; who cares for obedience only rendered through fear?

Sometimes I think I was the official killer of bad bills. One I recollect at this minute was about exemptin' debtors from their just debts. The more I listened to 'em argue about lettin' people get out from under their legitimate obligations, the madder I got. If the day ever comes when you can legislate people out of their honest debts . . . well, I never want to live to see it. The country will be in a bad way, that's all I got to say for it.

The mistake is that today too many believe that what ripe maturity can contain is therefore the best fare for immaturity. The mistake we still make is to hope that more and more citizens will have developed a mature morality, one they have critically tested against experience, without first having been subject as children to a stringent morality based on fear and trembling.

A more refined morality must have as its base a once rigid belief in right and wrong based on a fear of perdition that permits of no shading, of no relativity. And when I speak here of perdition, it makes no difference whether perdition amounts to damnation in hell or the loss of parental affection. If, as modern middle-class parents are often advised, affection is guaranteed to the child no matter what, there will be no fear. But neither will there be much morality.

The popularity of Tolkien, of "Star Wars," of "The Empire Strikes Back" shows that young people have a tremendous need for this fantastic elevation of good against evil, where good wins out, but the battle always has to begin anew.

But as for morality being based on fear, nowadays we want to remove fear from the life of the child. And as for the content of morality, we often insist that it should not be self-interest. In short, we want the child to obey a morality whose fundamental motives we do our best to remove.

While the morality taught by home, church, and community (up to roughly the start of World War II) gave direct support to the school in its efforts to teach the young in traditional ways, this is no longer so in all cases. On the contrary, the morality now taught to many children before they come to school, and while there, is often largely at variance with the school's educational efforts.

To do what you believe in, that is the course of action all honest men and women should follow, even to the death. But to spread such lies only for money, that is unforgivable.

Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed

We have been told, O Krishna, that people whose family traditions are destroyed necessarily dwell in hell for a long time.

Wherever is Krishna, the lord of yoga; and wherever is Arjuna, the archer; there will be everlasting prosperity, victory, happiness, and morality. This is my conviction.

If all is equal in the eye of Brahma as the Hindus say, if Allah is all-seeing and all merciful as you say, then who has committed atrocities on the children, the women, the old people? Who has poisoned the hearts of men?

Our criminal class grew out of good religious native soil.

Let cunning statesmen praise or blame, Let Fortune turn or go her way, Come instant death, or lingering shame, Firm souls from virtue will not stray.

Some generous souls forbear their own, and seek another's gain; Most men, neglecting not their own, their neighbour's cause maintain; Those are mere demons who would build their wealth on other's loss, But what are those who profitless their neighbour's interest cross?

A good man may fall, but he falls like a ball [and rebounds]; the ignoble man falls like a lump of clay.