Quotes About Ethics

Selfishness is the only real atheism aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion.

We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics.

I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.

The true conservative is the man who has a real concern for injustices and takes thought against the day of reckoning.

If you treat people right they will treat you right ... ninety percent of the time.

Great power involves great responsibility

We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests.

The history of the last half century is accordingly in large measure a history of financial titans, whose methods were not scrutinized with too much care and who were honored in proportion as they produced the results, irrespective of the means they used.

In his struggle for selfish gain, man has often needlessly tipped the scales so that Nature's balance has been destroyed, and the public welfare has usually been on the short-weighted side.

We have always known that heedless self interest was bad morals, we now know that it is bad economics.

it's the most familial-based societies where the sense of obligation is strongest, that breed the worst nepotism and cronyism.

Nothing makes it easier to resist temptation than a proper bringing-up, a sound set of values — and witnesses.

A girl can have the face of an angel but have a horrid sort of heart.

I may be wicked, but I'm not bad.

Some secrets are wrong and ought to be told.

Poor Cecil. It's hard to be a devil of a fellow in these modern times. No stagecoaches to hold up. No princesses to rescue. Just Petey Todd to escort, while the easy, expert fellow walks the pretty girl home.

I'm not like that fellow who thought it a far, far better thing to trade his life for that of another. I'm nothing like him: I'd never volunteer to lay my head in the lap of Madame la Guillotine. No, that fellow was a hero and I'm not a hero at all.

Nobody does good to man with impunity.

Nature does not loathe virtue it is unaware of its existence.

If you ask anyone, what is morality based on? These are the two factors that always come out: One is reciprocity, … a sense of fairness, and the other one is empathy and compassion.

If we look straight and deep into a chimpanzee's eyes, an intelligent self-assured personality looks back at us. If they are animals, what must we be?

Perhaps it's just me, but I am wary of any persons whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior.

It is said that man is wolf to man. I find this very unfair to wolves.

Rather than reflecting an immutable human nature, morals are closely tied to the way we organize ourselves.