Quotes About Ethics

For men born and educated like our citizens, the only way, in my opinion, of arriving at a right conclusion about the possession and use of women and children is to follow the path on which we originally started, when we said that the men were to be the guardians and watchdogs of the herd. True.

But why dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many? Good men, and they are the only persons worth considering, will think of these things truly as they occurred.

Never mind the manner, which may or may not be good; but think only of the truth of my words, and give heed to that: let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly. (Socrates)

ought the just to injure any one at all?

And this is proved by the fact that when he obtains the power, he immediately becomes unjust as far as he can be.

question—What is justice, stripped of appearances?

thither I went, and sought to persuade every man among you that he must look to himself, and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests of the state; and that this should be the order which he observes in all his actions.

But tell me, this physician of whom you were just speaking, is he a moneymaker, an earner of fees or a healer of the sick?

There's no difficulty in choosing vice in abundance: the road is smooth and it's hardly any distance to where it lives. But the gods have put sweat in the way of goodness, and a long, rough, steep road.

Now tell me best of friends lmaoooo

Need we hire a herald, or shall I announce, that the son of Ariston (the best) has decided that the best and justest is also the happiest, and that this is he who is the most royal man and king over himself; and that the worst and most unjust man is also the most miserable, and that this is he who being the greatest tyrant of himself is also the greatest tyrant of his State? Make the proclamation yourself, he said. And

the useful is the noble and the hurtful is the base

Pues bien, del mismo modo el malo, si ha de ser un hombre auténticamente malo, debe reali­zar con destreza sus malas acciones y pasar inadvertido con ellas. Y al que se deje sorprender en ellas hay que considerarlo inhábil, pues no hay mayor perfección en el mal que el parecer ser bueno no siéndolo.

quiénes son entonces -preguntó- los que llamas filósofos verdaderos? -Los que gustan de contemplar la verdad -respondí.

He is divine -- but then I call all philosophers that.

those who make philosophy the business of their lives, generally turn out rogues if they are bad men, and fools if they are good.

Pues bien -continué-, no debemos buscar el juez bueno y sabio en esa persona, sino en la anteriormente descrita. Pues la maldad jamás podrá conocerse al mis­mo tiempo a sí misma y a la virtud, y, en cambio, la vir­tud innata llegará, con los años y auxiliada por la educa­ción, a adquirir un conocimiento simultáneo de sí misma y de la maldad. En mi opinión será, pues, sabio el hombre virtuoso, pero no el malo.

That in any city, and particularly in the city of Athens, it is easier to do men harm than to do them good;

to suffer is better than to do evil;' and the art of rhetoric is described as only useful for the purpose of self-accusation.

No tendrás, pues, que establecer en la ciudad, junto con esa judicatura, un cuerpo médico de individuos como aquellos de que hablábamos, que cuiden de tus ciudadanos que tengan bien constituidos cuerpo y alma, pero, en cuanto a los demás, dejen morir a aquellos cuya deficiencia radique en sus cuerpos o condenen a muerte ellos mismos a los que tengan un alma naturalmente mala e incorregible?

So let the unjust make his unjust attempts in the right way, and lie hidden if he means to be great in his injustice: (he who is found out is nobody:) for the highest reach of injustice is, to be deemed just when you are not. Therefore I say that in the perfectly unjust man we must assume the most perfect injustice; there is to be no deduction, but we must allow him, while doing the most unjust acts, to have acquired the greatest reputation for justice.

longest of his works

If then virtue is something in the soul, and necessarily good, it must be a matter of mindfulness. For all other qualities of soul are in themselves neither good nor harmful. As accompanied by forethought or thoughtlessness, they become good or harmful. This argument shows that virtue, being good, must be a kind of mindfulness.

philosophical