Quotes About Ethics

One must not let oneself be misled: they say 'Judge not!' but they send to Hell everything that stands in their way.

The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.

There is an old illusion. It is called good and evil.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

We do not place especial value on the possession of a virtue until we notice its total absence in our opponent.

If we train our conscience, it kisses us while it hurts

There is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena

There is a certain right by which we many deprive a man of life, but none by which we may deprive him of death; this is mere cruelty.

A moral system valid for all is basically immoral.

Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.

A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!

Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, daß er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.

To see others suffer does one good, to make others suffer even more: this is a hard saying but an ancient, mighty, human, all-too-human principle [....] Without cruelty there is no festival.

But thus I counsel you, my friends: Mistrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful. They are people of a low sort and stock; the hangmen and the bloodhound look out of their faces. Mistrust all who talk much of their justice! Verily, their souls lack more than honey. And when they call themselves the good and the just, do not forget that they would be pharisees, if only they had—power.

Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil.

A man far oftener appears to have a decided character from persistently following his temperament than from persistently following his principles.

Morality is just a fiction used by the herd of inferior human beings to hold back the few superior men.

The complete irresponsibility of man for his actions and his nature is the bitterest drop which he who understands must swallow.

You say that a good cause will even sanctify war! I tell you, it is the good war that sanctifies every cause!

Almost everything we call higher culture is based on the spiritualization of cruelty.

The person who fights monsters should make sure that in the process, he does not become a monster himself. Because when you stare down at an abyss, the abyss stares back at you.

We set no special value on the possession of a virtue until we percieve that it is entirely lacking in our adversary.