Quotes About Ethics

When history is erased, people's moral values are also erased.

Tudo se resume e se resumirá, pelos séculos, a uma estratificada e convencional briguinha entre o Mal e o Bem.

He felt that there is a loose balance of good and evil, and that the art of living consists in getting the greatest good out of the greatest evil.

Scientific progress makes moral progress a necessity for if man's power is increased, the checks that restrain him from abusing it must be strengthened.

O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom! (O Liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name!)

It's one thing to be religious, but it's another thing to make religion your policy.

De ware schuldige is niet degene die zich gedwongen ziet een dergelijke keuze te maken; de schuld ligt bij degenen die de omstandigheden hebben geschapen waarin zulke keuzes moeten worden gemaakt".

The Nuremberg trials established the principle that neither "obeying the law" nor "following orders" is a sufficient legal defense for those accused of violating basic standards of civilization.

Respect for the rights of others is a lofty principle; but envy is a primal urge (p114)

Good people do good things and bad people do bad things," I was told, "but for good people to do bad things, that takes religion.

whether a democratic citizenry can be talked into betraying its own values.

Already, "never again" was happening.

I think that we all know what evil is. We have a sense of what's evil, and certainly killing innocent people is evil. We're less sure about what is good. There's sort of good, good enough, could be better - but absolute good is a little harder to define.

No error is more common than to assume that the winner of an election has license to do whatever he or she may want.

By asking questions based on a lie, it makes the lie a central part of national conversation.

The death of 500,000 dead Iraqi children was "a very hard choice, but the price-we think the price is worth it

Being accused of having double standards is preferable to being convicted—due to our own refusal to act—of honoring no standards at all.

Fascist attitudes take hold when there are no social anchors and when the perception grows that everybody lies, steals, and cares only about him- or herself.

And yet throughout the world, past and present, for thousands of years, those whom we call good men, righteous men, have been accustomed to the sight of such things, have sat and looked and considered them to be matters of course, have not demanded justice for the victims or offered to help them. This is the most appalling, unjust, and unequal thing, the most inexplicable theory under heaven.

For life is the mirror of king and slave, 'Tis just what we are and do Then give to the world the best you have, And the best will come back to you.

Hypocrites can be very pious

Doing the right thing often resulted in living the wrong thing forever. -Christian, Marquess of Eastrerbrook

Because to take away a man's freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person.

we must be certain that our children can face these challenges armed with a well-developed moral compass.