Quotes About Ethics

Just because one is born in sin is no reason to brag about it.

We should be carefree with our bodies and prudish with our brains, not the contrary. How virtuous we are with our flesh, and yet the first foul thought that comes our way is invited to the depths of our soul.

No philosopher was ever apathetic. If there is no love, it is not philosophy.

When a scientist splits an atom, the event is locked away like a jewel in a castle, funneling down to the public through a myriad of institutions. But when an artist stumbles upon the key to unleashing universal evil, the forbidden fruit of his painstaking labor is packaged and sold at every corner store from Bangor to Bangkok. I'm still unsure whether this is the result of a lack of respect for artists (compared to scientists) or the moral corruption of artists (compared to scientists).

A rationalization a day keeps your conscience at bay.

A mad scientist builds a monster out of body parts. The monster heads into the woods and kills a little girl. Who, then, is most responsible? The mad scientist or the monster?" "The answer to that question is obvious, sir." "It is ?" "Of course, sir - it's neither the scientist nor the monster." "Then who is the most responsible?" "The little girl in the woods." "The little girl in the woods? " "For failing to adequately protect herself, sir.

Chinese were not simply great craftsmen and ingenious designers, they were also a deeply moral people. Ethics was their true strength, and theirs was an ethics that crucially eschewed metaphysical or theological speculation and adhered to education and conversation.

You have to bear in mind the punishment. If an inmate ran away they would kill fifty other inmates. How can you accept that responsibility?

Thirdly, we have to raise human beings with a philosophy of ethics. If it's Judaism, wonderful, because it has a basic ethic. If it's Christianity, it has a basic ethic. But we have to raise people with a conscience.

The abandonment of civilized values exposes us collectively to possession by the worst elements of the Shadow.

Throughout the world, the more wrong a man does, the more indignant is he at wrong done to him. 

States are doomed when they are unable to distinguish good men from bad.

Although human life is priceless, we always act as if something had an even greater price than life…. But what is that something?

A civilization is built on what is required of men, not on that which is provided for them.

With great freedom comes great responsibility, someone said once, well, it doesn't work the other way around.

Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes, or the one who wrests your life from you in the course of many years?

Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.

Doctors are just the same as lawyers the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.

A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. He is a man who has signed a contract with his conscious and his sense of duty.

if it comes to a choice between being a good soldier and a good human being -- try to be a good human being".

Despicable means used to achieve laudable goals render the goals themselves despicable.

Better a debauched canary than a pious wolf.

To describe drunkenness for the colorful vocabulary is rather cynical. There is nothing easier than to capitalize on drunkards.

A grimy fly can soil the entire wall and a small, dirty little act can ruin the entire proceedings.