Quotes About Ethics

That's how hatred is created: two different groups, each insisting they're on the moral high ground

Here," he said. "I brought this for you." It was a small hardcover edition of an eighteenth century book called The Path of the Just with a note he had written for me inscribed on the title page. It quoted the Talmud: Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world. So he was trying to save me. Why? I was having fun.

I had violated one of Ross Jeffries's only ethical rule of seduction: Leave her better than you found her.

The first: No good deed goes unpunished. (A phrase, ironically, that was coined by a woman, Clare Boothe Luce.) The

The distinction between a Christian and a pagan is no longer obvious. The

we ask the following questions before we listen to gossip: What is your reason for telling me this? Where did you get your information? Have you gone directly to the source? Have you personally checked out all the facts? Can I quote you if I check this out?2

It is not what we do that determines who we are. It is who we are that determines what we do.

If you feel you belong to things as they are, you won't hold up anyone in the alley no matter how hungry you may get. And you won't write anything that anyone will read a second time either.

Sometimes people rationalize their behavior. How about the Americans who gave atomic bomb secrets to the Russians? They were people who said they did it out of conviction—so one side wouldn't have all the power.

He had a clean shot, but he also had an informal rule of trying not to kill anyone within an hour of landing in a new country

We're not thieves. We're repatriating money that rich Cubans stole from poor Cubans so it can be returned to the rich Cubans who stole it.

When you cheat at poker, life, or taxes, you've taken the honor and fun out of winning, and ultimately you've cheated yourself out of the finest pleasure in life: beating the other guy fair and square. That's what I was taught in school.

And so to seem like a regular guy and a good hire, I said, quoting Uncle Harry, "Whatever is not a crime is a business.

wanted to sleep with Beth tonight, but I didn't want to get involved tomorrow. On

When you're dealing with people who have no moral center, no loyalty to anyone but themselves, you don't always get the logical results you expect, or the truth that you paid for.

He could be an officer without worrying about being a gentleman.

Do you know why sharks don't eat lawyers? Professional courtesy.

Well, aside from money, you have what I call dick crimes. Dicks get you in trouble.

early to bed, early to rise, makes a man sneaky and full of lies.

Hoje é muito difícil não ser canalha. Todas as pressões trabalham para o nosso aviltamento pessoal e coletivo.

We are not on our fours, howling in the woods, only because guilt saves us.

I never was in such a horrid office . . . It's not very nice to be where people are being swindled all day long, is it?

if you knock down every law in pursuit of the devil, then the laws are gone when the devil turns on you.

All rapidly accumulated wealth is either the result of luck or discovery, or the result of a legalised theft.