Quotes About Ethics

A 'no' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

The American way of life is not sustainable. It doesn't acknowledge that there is a world beyond America.

All the good works gathered in a thousand ages, Such as deeds of generosity, And offerings to the Blissful Ones— A single flash of anger shatters them.

Therefore, when the thought of compassion is impure, one should not sacrifice one's life, but it should be sacrificed when one's thought is unbiased. Thus, life must not be wasted.18

When fear and suffering are disliked by me and others equally what is so special about me that I protect myself and not the other?

A gentleman does not openly work for pay, does he?

A man's character and honor made him stand above others, not his religion or strata in life.

There have been some medical schools in which somewhere along the assembly line, a faculty member has informed the students, not so much by what he said but by what he did, that there is an intimate relation between curing and caring.

Never do anything that you can't admit doing, because if you are that ashamed of whatever it is, it's probably wrong.

To do good is difficult. One who does good first does something hard to do. I have done many good deeds, and, if my sons, grandsons and their descendants up to the end of the world act in like manner, they too will do much good. But whoever amongst them neglects this, they will do evil. Truly, it is easy to do evil.

Respect for mother and father is good, generosity to friends, acquaintances, relatives, Brahmans and ascetics is good, not killing living beings is good, moderation in spending and moderation in saving is good. The Council shall notify the Yuktas about the observance of these instructions in these very words.

Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, has caused this Dhamma edict to be written. Here (in my domain) no living beings are to be slaughtered or offered in sacrifice. Formerly, in the kitchen of Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, hundreds of thousands of animals were killed every day to make curry. But now with the writing of this Dhamma edict only three creatures, two peacocks and a deer are killed, and the deer not always. And in time, not even these three creatures will be killed.

I wondered how all those people in the states who tried to sound tough, saying that the u.s. should go in here, bomb there, take over this, attack that, would feel if they knew that they were indirectly responsible for babies being burned to death.

I think I would not hold one in slavery at any rate, yet the point is not clear enough for me to denounce people upon.

To those who try to reach The throne of power Over mounds of dead bodies Of innocent children Old women Young men, I have a question: Did nothing bind them To those who died? - Power

Goodness does not consist in greatness, but greatness in goodness.

We're on the eve of destruction. Men have lost all sense of honor. Power has become their faith instead of faith being their power.

renoncer à trois choses : l'amour de soi, la loi du père et la morale de la mère.

The problem with medicine and the institutions it has spawned for the care of the sick and the old is not that they have had an incorrect view of what makes life significant. The problem is that they have had almost no view at all. Medicine's focus is narrow. Medical professionals concentrate on repair of health, not sustenance of the soul. Yet—and this is the painful paradox—we have decided that they should be the ones who largely define how we live in our waning days.

We hold that what one man cannot morally do, a million men cannot morally do, and government, representing many millions of men, cannot do.

Anyone who goes to law puts himself in the hands of an unscrupulous ring of bandits and thugs who milk both parties as hard as they can until one of them has to pay. If one allows for the stupidity and prejudice of judges, conceit and idleness of barristers, and diffuseness of English law, neither side can have a more certain chance of winning a legal action than on a tossed coin, which is a much cheaper way of settling things.

Competence comes when successful outcomes are produced by values-driven, purposeful behaviors.

The greatest crisis in the world today is a crisis of leadership, and the greatest crisis of leadership is a crisis of character.

A true alpha does the right thing, regardless of what his pack thinks,