Quotes About Ethics

No sistema aristotélico, a ética é um fator relativamente pouco importante. O cristianismo, entretanto, com a condenação do pecado e o apelo à retidão dá forte ênfase à moral. Não obstante, a ética não é a base do sistema cristão. A teologia é mais fundamental, pois a ética depende de Deus.

Justice and fairness aren't just part of the social studies curriculum, you know. They're the building blocks of our entire society.

It seems like cheating somehow, breaking some overarching Law of the Way Things Are Supposed to Be.

They agreed it was wrong to throw the stick, but insisted that Chase couldn't have predicted it would result in serious injury. Ha! The real reason was that Chase was the town sports hero—and the son of the last town sports hero. Chase's dad had a lot of admirers on that board. And my family didn't.

In a republic, they believed, no person should be allowed to exploit the public's authority for private gain.

In 1788 Dr. Rush had told the clergy that, whatever their doctrinal differences, "you are all united in inculcating the necessity of morals," and "from the success or failure of your exertions in the cause of virtue, we anticipate the freedom or slavery of our country.

As William Plumer of New Hampshire complained, "It is impossible to censure measures without condemning men.

Philosophically speaking, values are the termini of our intentions. We never fully achieve them.

a writer must always tell the truth (unless he's a journalist)

By the time a man gets to be presidential material, he's been bought ten times over.

Although Americans justify their self-interest in moral terms, their true interest is never itself moral.

Miss Rand now tells us that what we have thought was right is really wrong. The lesson should have read: One for one and none for all.

I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam -- good people, yes, but any religion based on a single, well, frenzied and virulent god, is not as useful to the human race as, say, Confucianism, which is not a religion but an ethical and educational system.

Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale.

It was of course Jefferson's gift at one time or another to put with eloquence the "right" answer to every moral question. In practice, however, he seldom deviated from an opportunistic course, calculated to bring him power.

Many years ago, there used to be something called 'conflict of interest.' No longer, I'm afraid. Today, we all bathe in the same river.

To want power is corruption already.

Wer überlegt, der sucht Bewegungsgründe, nicht zu dürfen.

Warum sind wir zu gewissen Tugenden bei einem gesunden und seine Kräfte fühlenden Körper weniger, als bei einem siechen und abgematteten aufgelegt?

In our hearts there is a ruthless dictator, ready to contemplate the misery of a thousand strangers if it will ensure the happiness of the few we love.

Never presume yours is a better morality.

You put the small thief in prison, but the big thief lives in a palace.

It is a great danger for everyone when what is shocking changes.

They had been corrupted by money, and he had been corrupted by sentiment. Sentiment was the more dangerous, because you couldn't name its price. A man open to bribes was to be relied upon below a certain figure, but sentiment might uncoil in the heart at a name, a photograph, even a smell remembered.