Quotes About Ethics

Wealth is not the locus of the sin, but the presence of the wealth is the locus of the temptation.

We are not only tempted by wealth, we are tempted to blame wealth.

There is no virtue or vice in a transitive verb, everything depends on the direct object. 'I LOVE' could be virtuous or not - you could love ice cream, Jesus, child porn, my country, hurting people, the lust of the flesh. Love is not an automatic virtue. Hatred is not an automatic vice. What's the direct object? from Debate In The Age Of The Glitter-Bomb in The City, Fall 2013.

Immodest and attractive is easy. Modest and repulsive is easy too. But modest and attractive is an art form.

Principles are like the lighthouses. they stand still. so we don't lose our way.

and speak good to people [i.e. enjoin righteousness and forbid evil,

The hospitals and graveyards are filled with those who refused to acknowledge the virtues of physical morality.

The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another, even the lowliest creature; but to do so is to renounce our manhood and shoulder a guilt which nothing justifies.

Politics isn't about big money or power games, it's about the improvement of people's lives. Paul Wellstone

A good man cannot be a master and a master cannot be a good man.

Sincerity is the sum of all moral qualities.

there is no obscuring of responsibility such as "I try to be honest." We are honest or we are not honest.

Law has no skin, reason has no nostrils.

Virtue lies in the middle ground.

Don't worry so much about your self-esteem. Worry more about your character. Integrity is its own reward.

The reward for doing right is mostly an internal phenomenon: self-respect, dignity, integrity, and self- esteem.

Para vivir, el hombre debe actuar; para actuar, debe tomar decisiones; para tomar decisiones, debe definir un código de valores; para definir un código de valores, debe saber qué es y dónde está; esto es, debe conocer su propia naturaleza y la naturaleza del universo en el cual actúa.» Ludwig Wittgenstein

Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it.

Our lives begin to end the day we stop caring for whit is important.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at time of challenge and controversy.

An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? Expediency asks the question - is it political? But conscience asks the question - is it right? There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, popular, or political; but because it is right.

Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful - that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes