Quotes About Ethics

Ralph Peters, a conservative uber-hawk and former army intelligence officer who in early 2018 resigned in disgust as a Fox commentator. In a scorching letter of resignation leaked to BuzzFeed, he wrote, "Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration.

To be an anti-Trump Republican in this climate requires moral courage that few politicians or media personalities display.

We relinquished our freedom that day, and we were more than happy to see it go. From that moment on we lived in true freedom, the freedom to point to someone else and say "They told me to do it! It's their fault, not mine." The freedom, God help us, to say "I was only following orders."-World War Z

People are going to behave however the social norms permit, and beyond that.

Every uniform corrupts one's character.

If anyone has a conscience it's generally a guilty one.

Die Bild-Zeitung ist ein Organ der Niedertracht. Es ist falsch, sie zu lesen. Jemand, der zu dieser Zeitung beiträgt, ist gesellschaftlich absolut inakzeptabel. Es wäre verfehlt, zu einem ihrer Redakteure freundlich oder auch nur höflich zu sein. Man muss so unfreundlich zu ihnen sein, wie es das Gesetz gerade noch zuläßt. Es sind schlechte Menschen, die Falsches tun

Polish women and children were used as human shields for the advance of German troops.

All men who participate in wars find themselves obliged to do things which, if they are decent people, they afterwards regret.

Some Americans responded brutally to such docility: in two separate incidents on 14 July, an officer and an NCO of the U.S. 45th Division murdered large groups of Italians in cold blood. One, Sgt. Horace West, who killed thirty-seven with a Thompson submachine gun, was convicted by a court-martial, but later granted clemency. The other, Capt. John Compton, assembled a firing squad which massacred thirty-six Italian prisoners.

Horace Walpole wrote in the mid-eighteenth century: 'No great country was ever saved by good men, because good men will not go to the lengths that may be necessary.

It seems a fair test of any political movement to enquire not whether it is capitalist, communist or fascist, but whether it is fundamentally humane.

Looking back later, we could see that the military code was unreasonable. But at that time, we regarded dying for our country as our duty. If men had been allowed to surrender honourably, everybody would have been doing it.

When you get to the point where you cheat for the sake of beauty, you're an artist.

Do not confuse your vested interests with ethics. Do not identify the enemies of your privilege with the enemies of humanity.

When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.

The highest court is in the end one's own conscience and conviction—that goes for you and for Einstein and every other physicist—and before any science there is first of all belief.

Our athiests are pious people.

Der moralische Einfluß nimmt da seinen Anfang, wo die Demütigung beginnt, ja er ist nichts anderes, als diese Demütigung selbst, die Brechung und Beugung des Mutes zur Demut herab.

Mit dem Ideal der absoluten Freiheit wird dasselbe Unwesen getrieben wie mit allem Absoluten.

Aus fixen Ideen entstehen die Verbrechen.

After industry and frugality, nothing contributes more to the raising of a young man in the world than punctuality and justice in all his dealings;

Política como vocación). Los funcionarios con un alto sentido ético, tales como los que desgraciadamente han ocupado entre nosotros una y otra vez cargos directivos, son precisamente malos políticos, irresponsables en sentido político y por tanto desde este punto de vista, éticamente detestables.

It is certain that there can be no work in political economy on any other than an altruistic basis... If our work is to retain any meaning it can only be informed by this: concern for the future, for those who will come after us.