Quotes About Ethics

It is in virtue that happiness consists, for virtue is the state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious.

The greatest happiness of the greatest number.

The devil gets up to the belfry by the vicar's skirts.

If there is no Hell, a good many preachers are obtaining money under false pretenses.

I think if I were dying and I heard of an act of injustice, it would start me up to a moment's life again.

I'm a competitive person, but I have never understood people's competitiveness at the expense of their colleagues.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Isn't it better to have men be ungrateful, than to miss a chance to do good?

Cruelty is the only sin.

Every man is the son of his own works.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

One murder makes a villain, millions a hero.

The question is this: Is man an ape or an angel? I, my lords, am on the side of the angels.

It is better to deserve honours and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.

A man has honour if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable or dangerous to do so.

Honour follows those who flee it.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honours, but in deserving them.

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? How then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word.

He that lives in a glass house must not throw stones.

The fact is that the possession of a highly social conscience about large-scale issues is no guarantee whatever of reasonable conduct in private relations.

If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue.

Remember this: If you work for a man, in Heaven's name, work for him. If he pays you wages which supply you bread and butter, work for him; speak well of him; stand by the institution he represents. If put to a pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage - resign your position, and when you are on the outside, damn to your heart's content, but as long as you are part of the institution do not condemn it.

It is a trick among the dishonest to offer sacrifices that are not needed, or not possible, to avoid making those that are required.