Quotes About Ethics

Goodness had nothing to do with it.

Maggie Haberman

For Jane Austen, morality is not only a matter of personal responsibility between an individual and his conscience or his Maker; it is more social than that, it is a matter of how the conduct impinges on the lives of other people.

But really justice has no coordinates, no teleology.

I think beauty neither obscures truth nor reveals it. Likewise, it leads neither toward justice nor away from it.

Never in my life have I felt more prochoice than when I was pregnant. And never in my life have I understood more thoroughly, and been more excited about, a life that began at conception.

It seems to me crucial — even ethically crucial — to treat with caution any rhetoric that purports to have all ethical goodness on its side.

Do not tell lies and do not do what you hate, for all things are manifest in the sight of heaven.

couldn't have my happiness made out of a wrong—an unfairness—to somebody else . . . What sort of a life could we build on such foundations? —EDITH WHARTON

I couldn't have my happiness made out of a wrong—an unfairness—to somebody else . . . What sort of a life could we build on such foundations? —EDITH WHARTON

People shouldn't have to earn kindness. They should have to earn cruelty.

To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or justice.

?Tis not for gain, for fame, from fear That righteous men injustice shun, And virtuous men hold virtue dear: An inward voice they seem to hear, Which tells them duty must be done.

A bad man is as much pleased as a good man is distressed to speak ill of others.

Do naught to others which, if done to thee, would cause thee pain: this is the sum of duty.*

Just as the track of birds that cleave the air Is not discovered, nor yet the path of fish That skim the water, so the course of those Who do good actions is not always seen.

Repeated sin destroys the understanding And he whose reason is impaired repeats His sins. The constant practising of virtue Strengthens the mental faculties, and he Whose judgment stronger grows acts always right.

The good to others kindness show, And from them no return exact; The best and greatest men, they know, Thus ever nobly love to act.*

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.

It is difficult, but not impossible, to conduct strictly honest business

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.

Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.

All of your scholarship, all your study of Shakespeare and Wordsworth would be vain if at the same time you did not build your character and attain mastery over your thoughts and your actions

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.