Quotes About Ethics

It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

The man with the greatest soul will always face the greatest war with the low minded person.

Any society which does not insist upon respect for all life must necessarily decay.

The right to search for the truth implies also a duty; one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be the truth.

I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it.

As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.

Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.

If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.

Don't do anything that goes against your conscience, even if your country says so.

You are right in speaking of the moral foundations of science, but you cannot turn around and speak of the scientific foundations of morality.

Science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value, elly judgments of all kinds remain necessary.

Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.

There is nothing divine about morality, it is a purely human affair.

Don't dream of being a good person, be a human being is valuable and gives value to life.

The world won't be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.

The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.

Concern for man himself and his fate must always constitute the chief objective of all technological endeavors...in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.

Science has therefore been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked to pieces than take part in such an abominable business.