Quotes About Ethics

Civilization is what is born when the soul does not surrender to its congenital vulgarity.

Technology would present fewer dangers if manipulating it were not so simple for the imbecile and so profitable for the thief.

A noble society is one where obeying and exercising authority are ethical behaviors, and not mere practical necessities.

We doubt the importance of many virtues as long as we do not come across the contrary vice.

A paean to justice intoxicates us, because it seems to us to be an apology for the passion, just or unjust, which blinds us.

Weder Christentum noch Heidentum lehren eine altruistische Ethik. Die christliche wie die heidnische Moral sind ethische Individualismen, die soziale Pflichten einzig als Mittel zu unserer irdischen Vervollkommnung oder zu unserer geheimnisvollen Rettung auferlegen.

Conservatism should not be a party but the normal attitude of every decent man.

No beneficiary of slaves is supporter of birth control.

This century has succeeded in turning sex into a trivial activity and an odious topic.

In a perfect penal code, vulgarity would be punished with the death penalty.

The cultural standard of an intelligent people sinks as its standard of living rises.

To be useful to society" is the ambition, or excuse, of a prostitute.

Preoccupation with money is the great test of small natures, but only a small test of great ones.

Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.

Honor is like an island, rugged and without shores; we can never reenter it once we are on the outside.

In cities the old are more corrupt than the young.

Anyone who has no character is not a man, but a thing.

Some things are easier to legalize than to legitimate.

An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.

Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking

La gloire ne peut apporter de joie à qui l'a volée: elle ne fait palpiter que les cœurs dignes d'elle.

What's the point of doing something good if nobody's watching?

We're inclined to excuse in ourselves behavior that we find unacceptable in others.

We must fight their falsehood with our truth, but we must also fight the falsehood in our truth.