Quotes About Ethics

perhaps great sins start as simple weakness, and the consistent placing of self before others.

It all comes down to fear and greed. The easiest way to make that respectable is to call it nationalism, as you can't fault a man for loving his country.

A man hasn't got a corner on virtue just because his shoes are shined.

Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.

People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil... Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.

In science, even more than elsewhere, to suppress a truth is to consent to a lie.

But if one is going to create characters, I suggest that one is well-advised not to attach to them the names of real persons, living or dead.

She had a capacity for tact, but she was also extremely honest, and if tact and honesty conflicted on any important matter, the honesty won.

And what if I think you're doing this out of misguided sense of decency?" "Oh, any sense of decency I possess is most definitely misguided," he said cheerfully.

She had not yet decided whether to use her power for good...or for evil.

I don't adhere to the idea that you don't make moral judgments. I think history is a moral profession. We don't just look back and say, oh, and here is how they slaughtered the innocents, and go move on.

When you are trying to live the life of the Spirit, you will try to be pure. You do well, but why? In order that you may be pure, and leave your impure brethren in their impurity? Oh no! You must try to be pure, in order that there may be more purity in the world to share amongst all men.

That is the true definition of sin; when knowing right you do the lower, ah, then you sin. Where there is no knowledge, sin is not present.

Someone ought to do it, but why should I? Someone ought to do it, so why not I? Between these two sentences lie whole centuries of moral evolution.

Thought creates character.

A thief is a thief is a thief.

An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" "No," said the priest, "not if you did not know." "Then why," asked the Inuit earnestly, "did you tell me?"

As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker.

Et, comme d'habitude, il était impossible de déterminer si l'avortement était interdit parce que c'était mal, ou si c'était mal parce que c'était interdit. On jugeait par rapport à la loi, on ne jugeait pas la loi.

La representación de la sociedad se atomizaba en «temas», prioritariamente sexuales, el intercambio de parejas, los transexuales, el incesto, la pedofilia y el topless en las playas, a favor o en contra, ponían ante la vista de la gente hechos y conductas que en general nunca habían probado personalmente y que, los aprobaran o los rechazaran, creían extendidos por todas partes, cuando no convertidos en norma.

Ni lui ni moi n'avions prononcé le mot avortement une seule fois. C'était une chose qui n'avait pas de place dans le langage.

I'm more interested in being good than being famous.

If we value what we've inherited for free - from other women - surely it's right morally and ethically for us to wake up and say, 'I'm a feminist. '

There are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Pepsi and those who simply won't.