Quotes About Ethics

dopotutto non erano tanto nobili, ma trattavano il ladro nella stessa maniera in cui il ladro li trattava.

If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself.

It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.

Mais que sont-ils? Des hommes, vraiment? ou bien de petites forteresses et de petits arsenaux mobiles, au service de quelque homme de pouvoir sans scrupule? Visitez la Base navale de Washington, et regardez un soldat: voilà le genre d'homme qu'un gouvernement américain a le pouvoir de créer, ou ce qu'un gouvernement américain peut faire d'un homme avec sa magie noire - à peine une ombre, à peine un souvenir de ce qu'est l'humanité [...] P.8

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.

No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood, will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does. The

How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also.

What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot to-day?

I would remind my countrymen, that they are to be men first, and Americans only at a late and convenient hour. No matter how valuable law may be to protect your property, even to keep soul and body together, if it do not keep you and humanity together.

His highest duty to fodder and water his horses! What is his destiny

It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins aes alienum, another's brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying, and buried by this other's brass; always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent;

Je souhaiterais rappeler à mes compatriotes qu'il sont avant tout des hommes, et qu'ils ne sont des Américains qu'en second lieu. Qu'importe une loi qui protège vos biens et qui préserve votre âme et votre corps, si elle ne vous maintient pas dans les rangs du genre humain.

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.

Be true to your work, your word, and you're friend.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man; but it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it.

La meta de un buen gobierno es darle más valor a la vida; la de un mal gobierno, restarle valor.

Não é desejável cultivar o respeito às leis no mesmo nível do respeito aos direitos. (...) A lei nunca fez os homens sequer um pouco mais justos; e o respeito reverente pela lei tem levado até mesmo os bem-intencionados a agir quotidianamente como mensageiros da injustiça.

Toda a nobreza logo começa a refinar os traços de um homem; toda mesquinharia ou sensualidade, a embrutecê-los

Il est plus désirable de cultiver le respect du bien que le respect de la loi. Nous devons être d'abord des hommes et ensuite seulement des sujets

Is there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded? Through this wound a man's real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to an everlasting death

Mathematics does not lie, there are many lying mathematicians.

Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality--that it never secures any moral right, but considers merely what is expedient?

Det mesta som betraktas som gott är jag innerligt övertygad om är dåligt, och finns det något jag ångrar är det med största sannolikhet mitt goda uppförande.