Quotes About Ethics

When coercion of any kind is used in the interests of the Christian message, the message itself is corrupted.

If I do not know the purpose for which human life was designed, I have no basis for saying that any kind of human life-style is good or bad.

In fact, you cannot condemn torture on political grounds, because in most cases it is perfectly efficient and the torturers get what they want. You can condemn it only on moral grounds and then, necessarily, everywhere in the same way, in Batista's Cuba or in Castro's Cuba, in North Vietnam and in South Vietnam.

I am not a Kant expert and no Kantian but, I should say, a Kant sympathizer—especially where conflicts between Kantian and so-called historicist thinking are concerned, both in epistemology and in ethics.

moral perfection is possible only on condition that infinite progress is possible, and infinite progress, in turn, is possible only if our existence is infinite.

The good and the generous action of which we feel incapable is a reproach when done by another.

The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who worked for me on this show. Now, my response to that is yes I have. I have had sex with women who worked on this show. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would, especially for the women.

Don't use your bedroom for work, unless you're a prostitute.

You ask yourself, "What would Jesus tweet?"

Maybe this was one of those times when being a hero didn't involve looking particularly brave. It was just doing what you should.

The librarian thought the problem was just that the right books weren't breeding with each other and proposed a forced mating program. The library committee had an epic secret meeting about the ethics of literary eugenics which ended in a furious deadlock.

A Fillory without a god. It was a radical notion. But he thought about it, and it didn't seem like a terrible one. They would be on their own this time - the kings, the queens, the people, the animals, the spirits, the monsters. They'd have to decide what was right and just and fair for themselves.

The library committee had an epic secret meeting about the ethics of literary eugenics which ended in a furious deadlock.

Men han ville ogärna vara orsaken till att någon dog. Det här var inte Tolkien - de var inga orker, troll, jättespindlar eller andra onda varelser som det stod en fritt att begå massmord på utan besvärliga komplikationer. Orker hade inte fru och barn pch en bakgrundshistoria.

What's wrong with lying?... A lie is a blow to the tyranny of fact.

What is the point of magic if we can't fix real problems?

What is the point of magic if we can't use it to fix real problems?

Furthermore, as long as the world shall last, there will always be people who, either for the sake of peace or from an unquiet conscience, will build up sublime lies for their neighbours. And these people have always been and will always be the masters of human thought.

To praise oneself is considered improper, immodest; to praise one's own sect, one's own philosophy, is considered the highest duty.

The dictates of humanity came in opposition to the law of the land, and we ignored the law.

A father and two sons run Adelphia. It's a cable company. And they took from that company a billion dollars. A billion. Three people - three people took a billion dollars. What were they gonna do, start their own space program? 'Let's send the monkey to Mars, Dad!'

Ambition! We must be careful what we mean by it. If it means the desire to get ahead of other people -- which is what I think it does mean -- then it is bad. If it means simply wanting to do a thing well, then it is good. It isn't wrong for an actor to want to act his part as well as it can possibly be acted, but the wish to have his name in bigger type than the other actors is a bad one.

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?

The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There's not one of them which won't make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide.