Quotes About Ethics

A nations moral life is, of course, the foundation of its culture.

Homo economicus would cheat only if he stood to benefit by enough and if the odds of being caught were sufficiently low. So the mere fact that he does not have a reputation for being a cheat tells us only that he's been prudent.

The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched.

The innocence of the intention abates nothing of the mischief of the example.

Power brings a man many luxuries, but a clean pair of hands is seldom among them.

What do you do,' he said, 'if you devote your life to discovering criminals, and it gradually occurs to you that the real criminals are the people you work for? What do you do when everyone tells you not to worry, you can't do anything about it, it was a long time ago?' She was looking at him in a different way. 'I suppose you go crazy.' 'Or worse. Sane.

No one who ever follows their conscience ever does wrong. The consequences may not turn out as we intended; it may prove that we made a mistake. But that is not the same as being wrong.

it is the moral state, rather than the intellectual, to which the Spirit of God speaks with the greater certitude.

The most distressing aspect of the world into which you are going is its indifference to the basic issues, which now, as always, are moral issues.

These tests imply an even more fundamental lesson that runs through this book: the difference between how a person treats the powerless versus the powerful is as good a measure of human character as I know.

Accountability means that an organization is packed with people who embody and protect excellence (even when they are tired, overburdened, and distracted), who work vigorously to spread it to others, and who spot, help, critique, and (when necessary) push aside colleagues who fail to live and spread it.

los líderes eficaces son «además de competentes, benevolentes».

In other words, that American asshole rattled the Israeli health-care professionals so much that it undermined their ability to treat sick babies.

fear of taking responsibility, especially the sense that it is safer to do nothing, or something bad, than the right thing.

Refusal to accept blame, pointing fingers at others, and wimpy language can help bosses keep their jobs for a while, but it usually backfires in the long run. No matter what is said, bosses are seen as responsible for what their people do.

Grant prefers to say nice things about people. But he argues that negative—and well-founded—gossip is often justified: "I feel that I have a social responsibility to speak candidly. If I don't warn people about the most manipulative and Machiavellian marauders in their midst, I'm leaving them vulnerable to attack.

I find that if you take the opportunity to throw out a subtle reminder of the core values we are required to adhere to, the a**hole quickly backs up, swallows the words, and rethinks the tactic.

Safe is a word that goes much better with sex than science."14

When people (regardless of personality) wield power, their ability to lord it over others causes them to (1) become more focused on their own needs and wants; (2) become less focused on others' needs, wants, and actions; and (3) act as if written and unwritten rules others are expected to follow don't apply to them.

But those who are incapable of pitying animals are, as a matter of fact, incapable of pitying men. A physician who would cut a living rabbit in pieces -- laying bare the nerves, denuding them with knives, pulling them out with forceps -- would not hesitate to try experiments with men and women for the gratification of his curiosity.

There is something wrong in a government where they who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the loving, the tender, east a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets.

Virtue is a subordination of the passions to the intellect. It is to act in accordance with your highest convictions. It does not consist in believing but in doing. Collected works volume 1

Honor does not have to be defended.

If theft is advantageous to everyone who succeeds at it, and adultery is a good strategy, at least for males, for increasing presence in the gene pool, why do we feel they are wrong? Shouldn't the only morality that evolution produces be the kind Bill Clinton had - being sorry you got caught?