Quotes About Ethics

The ancients thought it shameful to seek advancement or want to be the head of something, or the chief or senior.

thing, or who changes his speech or manner according to the appearance or position of the people he meets, is not a man working in the Way.

A person who is influenced by the quality of a thing, or who changes his speech or manner according to the appearance or position of the people he meets, is not a man working in the Way.

The power paradox is this: we rise in power and make a difference in the world due to what is best about human nature, but we fall from power due to what is worst. We gain a capacity to make a difference in the world by enhancing the lives of others, but the very experience of having power and privilege leads us to behave, in our worst moments, like impulsive, out-of-control sociopaths.

Around the world, we are most likely to feel awe when moved by moral beauty, the first wonder of life in our taxonomy.

it is impossible to build one's own happiness on the unhappiness of others. This perspective is at the heart of Buddhist teachings.

Nobody kicks a dead dog

The secret of his success? "I will speak ill of no man," he said, ". . and speak all the good I know of everybody.

Hurting a man in his dignity is a crime.

Shakespeare said, "Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

King George V had a set of six maxims displayed on the walls of his study at Buckingham Palace. One of these maxims said: 'Teach me neither to proffer nor receive cheap praise.

Lincoln did not belong to any church, and avoided religious discussions even with his best friends. However, he once told Herndon that his religious code was like that of an old man named Glenn, in Indiana, whom he had heard speak at a church meeting, and who said: "When I do good, I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that's my religion.

Doing business in the digital age is predicated on doing the business of humanity well.

I will speak ill of no man," he said, " … and speak all the good I know of everybody.

Every one thinks he's a good person, even those on Death Row.

The Boston Transcript once printed this bit of significant doggerel:   Here lies the body of William Jay, Who died maintaining his right of way— He was right, dead right, as he sped along, But he's just as dead as if he were wrong.   You

No hablaré mal hombre alguno y de todos diré todo lo bueno que sepa

it is easier to do ill than well in the world.

To-day the two groups of Negroes, the one in the North, the other in the South, represent these divergent ethical tendencies, the first tending toward radicalism, the other toward hypocritical compromise.

The most obvious question which this study suggest is: How far in a State can a recognized moral wrong safely be compromised?

I refused to teach Sunday school. When Archdeacon Henry Phillips, my last rector, died, I flatly refused again to join any church or sign any church creed. From my 30th year on I have increasingly regarded the church as an institution which defended such evils as slavery, color caste, exploitation of labor and war.

He was not easily brought to recognize any ethical sanctions in work as such but tended to work as the results pleased him and refused to work or sought to refuse when he did not find the spiritual returns adequate; thus he was easily accused of laziness and driven as a slave when in truth he brought to modern manual labor a renewed valuation of life.

Is all niceness then or is all buggery? How can a man be forty-five years old and still not know whether all is niceness or buggery? How does one know for sure?

A man must live by his lights and do what little he can and do it as best he can. In this world goodness is destined to be defeated. But a man must go down fighting. That is the victory. To do anything less is to be less than a man.