Quotes About Ethics

The worst form of injustice is pretended justice.

Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.

He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.

Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.

Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.

Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others.

No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.

The judge should not be young; he should have learned to know evil, not from his own soul, but from late and long observation of the nature of evil in others: knowledge should be his guide, not personal experience.

Injustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice.

Socrates is a doer of evil, who corrupts the youth; and who does not believe in the gods of the state, but has other new divinities of his own. Such is the charge.

For good nurture and education implant good constitutions.

How, then, might we contrive… one noble lie to persuade if possible the rulers themselves, but failing that the rest of the city?

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

The good is the beautiful.

And this which you deem of no moment is the very highest of all: that is whether you have a right idea of the gods, whereby you may live your life well or ill.

The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state.

No physician, insofar as he is a physician, considers his own good in what he prescribes, but the good of his patient; for the true physician is also a ruler having the human body as a subject, and is not a mere moneymaker.

A man ought not to return evil for evil, as many think, since at no time ought we to do an injury to our neighbour.*

Justice will only exist where those not affected by injustice are filled with the same amount of indignation as those offended.

Philosophy is an elegant thing, if anyone modestly meddles with it; but if they are conversant with it more than is becoming, it corrupts them.

The greatest penalty of evildoing - namely, to grow into the likeness of bad men.

To the rulers of the state then, if to any, it belongs of right to use falsehood, to deceive either enemies or their own citizens, for the good of the state: and no one else may meddle with this privilege.

The measure of a man is what he does with power.

Education is teaching our children to desire the right things.