Quotes About Ethics

Major Major had lied, and it was good. He was not really surprised that it was good, for he had observed that people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie.

People have a right to do anything that's not forbidden by law, and there's no law against lying to you.

I used to think it was immoral to be unhappy.

What could you do? Major Major asked himself again. What could you do with a man who looked you squarely in the eye and said he would rather die than be killed in combat, a man who was at least as mature and intelligent as you were and who you had to pretend was not? What could you say to him?

You know, one good apple can spoil the rest," Colonel Korn concluded with conscious irony.

The Germans will be beaten in a few months. And Japan will be beaten a few months after that. If I were to give up my life now, it wouldn't be for my country. It would be for Cathcart and Korn. So I'm turning my bombsight in for the duration. From now on I'm thinking only of me.

You've got to have a God. Without God, you might turn to something really crazy, like witchcraft, or religion.

To pray for their safety was to pray for the death of other young men he did not even know.

Would you like to see your country lose?' Major Major asked. 'We won't lose. We've got more men, more money and more material. There are ten million men in uniform who could replace me. Some people are getting killed and a lot more are making money and having fun. Let somebody else get killed.' 'But suppose everybody on our side felt that way.' 'Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn't I?

Bribery is against the law, and you know it. But it's not against the law to make a profit, is it? So it can't be against the law for me to bribe someone in order to make a fair profit, can it? No, of course not!

Don't be such an ass, Scheisskopf. People have a right to do anything that's not forbidden by law, and there's no law against lying to you.

Mindenkinek joga van azt tenni, amit nem tilt a törvény, márpedig azt nem tiltja a törvény, hogy magának hazudjanak.

He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down.

People have a right to do anything that's not forbidden by law, and there's no law against lying to you.

Ideals are good, but people are sometimes not so good.

never give testimony against another physician.

Honestly now, Chaplain, you wouldn't want your sister to marry an enlisted man, would you? My sister is an enlisted man, sir, the chaplain replied.

When I look up, I see people cashing in. I don't see heaven or saints or angels. I see people cashing in on every decent impulse and every human tragedy.

Would you like to see our country lose?' Major Major asked. 'We won't lose. We've got more men, more money and more material. There are ten million men in uniform who could replace me. Some people are getting killed and a lot more are making money and having fun. Let somebody else get killed.' 'But suppose everybody on our side felt that way.' 'Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn't I?

It's absolutely insane. Your conscience will never let you rest." "God bless it." Yossarian laughed. "I wouldn't want to live without strong misgivings. Right, Chaplain?

Honor mattered because character mattered. And character mattered because the fate of the American experiment with republican government still required virtuous leaders to survive.

We're all faced with moments when we must choose between the path of convenience or conviction.

When we knowingly write in ways that we would not want others to write to us, we abrade the trust that sustains a civil society.

When we rob from another, we rob from ourselves, because we are in a mood of lack and limitation which may manifest itself in our body, home life, and affairs. What wethink and feel, we create. We create what we believe. Even though a man may have accumulated a fortune fraudulently, he is not successful. There is no success without peace of mind. What good is man's accumulated wealth if he cannot sleep nights, is sick, or has a guilt complex?