Quotes About Ethics

Nothing will injure me, not Meletus nor yet Anytus—they cannot, for a bad man is not permitted to injure a better than himself.

POLUS: What! and does all happiness consist in this? SOCRATES: Yes, indeed, Polus, that is my doctrine; the men and women who are gentle and good are also happy, as I maintain, and the unjust and evil are miserable.

I think it's too much to call to call him wise, Phaedrus: only the gods deserve that label. But it would suit him better and be more appropriate to call him a lover of wisdom, or something like that.

LACHES: True. SOCRATES: And now on the contrary we are saying that the foolish endurance, which was before held in dishonour, is courage. LACHES: Very true. SOCRATES: And are we right in saying so? LACHES: Indeed, Socrates, I am sure that we are not right.

Y así, Trasímaco --- dije yo-, nadie que tiene gobierno, en cuanto es gobernante, examina ni ordena lo conveniente para sí mismo, sino lo conveniente para el gobernado y sujeto a su arte, y dice cuanto dice y hace todo cuanto hace mirando a éste y a su conveniencia y ventaja.

Cuando se trata de los negocios que corresponden puramente a la política, como la política versa siempre sobre la justicia y la templanza, entonces escuchan a todo el mundo y con razón, porque todos están obligados a tener estas virtudes, pues que de otra manera no hay sociedad.

Temperance, which they nickname Unmanliness...

Los hombres todos están persuadidos de que la virtud puede ser adquirida. Porque nadie castiga a un hombre malo sólo por ha sido malo, a no ser que se trate de alguna bestia feroz que castigue para saciar su crueldad. Pero el que castiga con razón, castiga, no por las faltas pasadas, porque ya no es posible que lo que ya ha sucedido deje de suceder, sino por las faltas que puedan sobrevenir, para que el culpable no reincida y sirva de ejemplo a los demás su castigo.

Rehúsa nadie enseñar a los demás lo que es justo? ¿Se guarda el secreto de esta ciencia, como se practica con todas las demás? No, sin duda; y la razón es porque la virtud y la justicia de cada particular son útiles a toda la sociedad. He aquí por qué todo el mundo se siente inclinado a enseñar a los demás todo lo relativo a las leyes y a la justicia.

SOCRATES: First, then, let us consider whether the doing of injustice exceeds the suffering in the consequent pain: Do the injurers suffer more than the injured? POLUS: No, Socrates; certainly not.

A man's duty is to find out where the truth is, or if he cannot, at least to take the best possible human doctrine and the hardest to disprove, and to ride on this like a raft over the waters of life.

Una de las mejores frases que ha sido atribuida a Pítaco, y que más han alabado los sabios, es justamente esta: es difícil ser virtuoso.

Si es cierto que lo agradable es bueno, no es posible que un hombre, sabiendo que puede hacer cosas mejores que las que hace, y conociendo que puede hacerlas, haga sin embargo las malas y deje las buenas, estando en su voluntad el poder escoger. Ser inferior a sí mismo no es otra cosa que estar en la ignorancia; y ser superior a sí mismo no es otra cosa que poseer la ciencia.

Then not he who does evil, but he who does good, is temperate? Yes, he said; and you, friend, would agree. No matter whether I should or not; just now, not what I think, but what you are saying, is the point at issue. Well, he answered; I mean to say, that he who does evil, and not good, is not temperate; and that he is temperate who does good, and not evil: for temperance I define in plain words to be the doing of good actions.

All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

that is not a way of escape which is either possible or honourable; the easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves.

Anyone who's really fighting for justice must live a private life as a citizen and not as a public figure if he's going to survive even a short time.

But he who desires to inflict rational punishment does not retaliate for a past wrong which cannot be undone; he has regard to the future, and is desirous that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again. He punishes for the sake of prevention, thereby clearly implying that virtue is capable of being taught.

Bir insan tanr?lar?n varl???na hiç inanmasa da, eÄŸer ayn? zamanda dürüst bir mizac? varsa, böyle kiÅŸiler insanlardaki kötülükten nefret eder; yanl??l?klara kar?? olan nefretleri, onlar? yanl?? iÅŸler yapmaktan uzaklaÅŸt?r?r; haks?zl?ktan kaç?n?rlar ve namuslu yaÅŸarlar

Öyleyse dostum, insanlara yap?lan kötülük onlar? doÄŸruluktan uzaklaÅŸt?r?r

DoÄŸru olan, yaln?z güçlünün iÅŸine geleni yapmak deÄŸil, tersini de, iÅŸine gelmeyeni yapmakt?r

Practice yourself what you preach.

Une courtisane est toujours bonne, s'il y a plus de mal que de bien à faire.

A gang of lads, morally neglected, and in that respect inferior to the intermediate class, but in good physical training, attack and throw another set, trained neither physically nor morally, and make off with their food and their dainty clothes. What more is called for than a laugh?