Quotes About Ethics

Il y a des gens qui paieraient pour se vendre

No corruption is possible with the diamond.

When one does wrong, one must do it thoroughly.

He was not to perceive that of two men engaged in an action so hideous, he who permits the thing is worse than the man who does the work, because he is the coward!

My friends, remember this: There are no bad herbs, and no bad men; there are only bad cultivators.

Succeed; that is the advice that falls, drop by drop, from the overhanging fruit of corruption.

The judge speaks in the name of justice,' he said. 'The priest speaks in the name of pity, which is only a higher form of justice.' (Bishop Myriel)

There are no bad plants or bad men. There is only bad husbandry.

it is very easy to be kind; the difficulty lies in being just.

Should he remain in paradise and become a demon? Should he return to hell and become an angel?

Monseigneur, you who turn everything to account have, nevertheless, one useless plot. It would be better to grow salads there than bouquets. Madame Magloire, retorted the Bishop, you are mistaken. The beautiful is as useful as the useful. He added after a pause, More so, perhaps.

In days gone by, I stole a loaf of bread in order to live; to-day, in order to live, I will not steal a name.

Sin is a gravitation.

It is necessary that society should look at these things, because it is itself which creates them.

The Convention promulgated this great axiom: The liberty of one citizen ends where the liberty of another citizen begins, which comprises in two lines the entire law of human society.

The world is like Olympus - even a thief is accepted in it if he is also a god.

the phantom of social justice tormented him.

It is wrong to become absorbed in the divine law to such a degree as not to perceive human law. Death belongs to God alone. By what right do men touch that unknown thing?

Ne craignons jamais les voleurs ni les meurtriers. Ce sont là les dangers du dehors, les petits dangers. Craignons-nous nous-mêmes. Les préjugés, voilà les voleurs ; les vices, voilà les meurtriers. Les grands dangers sont au dedans de nous. Qu'importe ce qui menace notre tête ou notre bourse ! Ne songeons qu'à ce qui menace notre âme.

À ceux qui ignorent, enseignez-leur [...] Le coupable n'est pas celui qui y fait le péché, mais celui qui y a fait l'ombre.

Terminar este duelo, amalgamar la idea pura con la realidad humana, hacer penetrar pacíficamente el derecho en el hecho y e hecho en el derecho, es el trabajo de los sabios.

The prosperity of right is that it is always beautiful and pure.

Was there a voice that whispered in his ear that he had just passed the most solemn moment of his destiny, that there was no longer a middle course for him; that from now on, he would either be the best of men or he would be the worst of men; that he now had to rise higher, so to speak, than the bishop or fall even lower than the galley slave; that if he wanted to be good, he had to be an angel; that if he wanted to stay bad, he had to be a monster from hell?

We may be indifferent to the death penalty and not declare ourselves either way so long as we have not seen a guillotine with our own eyes. But when we do, the shock is violent, and we are compelled to choose sides, for or against... Death belongs to God alone.