Quotes About Ethics

We can't allow any war for imperialism or greed to be fought in our names. This is what we need to keep fighting for.

To save your world you asked this man to die; would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

History shows that wars are divided into two kinds-just and unjust. All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust.

He who makes war his profession cannot be otherwise than vicious. War makes thieves, and peace brings them to the gallows.

Why do we electrocute men for murdering an individual and then pin a purple heart on them for mass slaughter of someone arbitrarily labeled "enemy?

No ethos, pursued without thought or mercy, is ethical.

War is just to those to whom war is necessary.

Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor.

Men of God and men of war have strange affinities.

War, we have come to believe, is a spectator sport. The military and the press have turned war into a vast video arcade game. Its very essence-death-is hidden from public view.

An inglorious peace is better than a dishonorable war.

...(Charles) Reich discredits reason because it has been used to justify the war in Vietnam, which is like deciding that because your mother has cooked you a few bad meals you must never eat again.

He is a truly virtuous man who wishes always to be open to the observation of honest men.

Mankind deserves sacrifice - but not of mankind.

Why should you ask blood be spilled for a cause that is not in the interest of the American people?

A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.

When it comes to world news, attitude is what marks the distinction between justice and vengeance. Justice is pure, but vengeance brings more ruin.

In a free society, how can you commit a crime against yourself?

No nation has the right to bring about a revolution, even though such a change may be most urgently needed, if the price is the blood of one single innocent individual.

Religion and science both profess peace (and the sincerity of the professors is not being doubted), but each always turns out to have a dominant part in any war that is going or contemplated.

I can't speak for a war that I believe is immoral.

In a way, we can have a much easier discussion about the future of technology than we can about why a young man kills another man in a war.

I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends.

Only in war are you holy, and when you are robbers and cruel.