Quotes About Ethics

Then there is the worst part of Christianity, which is awful: power, corruption, manipulation... But then again, these feature are ever present in any organization.

With great power comes great responsibilty.

If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States.

I have always been fascinated by the corruption of power.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

The inability of those in power to still the voices of their own consciences is the great force leading to change.

Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty.

If as an environmentalist we are against anything... it is against the arrogance of power and the most obcene ways it shows up, which is in greed.

It is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chattels to make money by, or to regard them merely as so much muscle or physical power.

We can't have a decent government unless those in power exercise self restraint.

Great power often corrupts virtue; it invariably renders vice more malignant. . . . In proportion as the powers of government increase, both its own character and that of the people becomes worse.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.

Those who would circumcise, implicitly suggest that they know better than nature, God, or whatever power created us and our world.

Leadership, in short, is power governed by principle, directed toward raising people to their highest levels of personal motive and social morality.

If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it.

Great men are almost always bad men.

If you want to provoke, you should provoke someone who is stronger than you, otherwise you are misusing your power.

The power to destroy the world by the use of nuclear weapons is a power that cannot be used - we cannot accept the idea of such monstrous immorality.

The practice of leadership is not the same as the exercise of power.

Free will is the power of choosing good and evil.

It is impossible to reign innocently.

The problem isn't the abuse of power; it's the power to abuse.

Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.