Quotes About Ethics

The trouble is that corruption isn't something you can have a little of. It's like cancer; inject it into a political organism and it's bound to spread. It's almost an axiom that power that has been taken out of the hands of the people is bound to grow progressively more corrupt.

War has rules, mud wrestling has rules - politics has no rules.

Very well, sir, to crime.

Socialism is a product of humanism, because humanism claims the right to legislate at will, and thereby to define sin at will.

To conclude: good journalism is one of the models of good conversation and communication in the wider social context.

It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.

It's not hard to make decisions once you know what your values are.

When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.

Most people who perpetrate evil do not see what they are doing as evil. Evil exists primarily in the eye of the beholder, especially in the eye of the victim.

lock yourself into a virtuous path.

Because of the importance of perceiving the means as morally acceptable, there may be a strong ongoing need for justification in idealistic evil. The person is doing something that would normally be regarded as wrong, such as killing or hurting people. Somehow, the person must sustain the belief that it is right. This is often done by focusing on the goodness of the overriding goal.

The use of violent or oppressive means to solve problems is a common feature in both instrumental and idealistic evil. There is an important difference, however, and that is the extent to which the ends justify the means.

Charles Darwin wrote in The Descent of Man, "The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts." The

A first conclusion was that the actions seemed much less evil—less wrong—to the perpetrators than to the victims.

Evil is not likely to result when people firmly believe that ends do not justify means. If they evaluate their methods by the same lofty standards by which they judge their goals and purposes, evil will be held in check.

We can understand instrumental evil as the use of a particular set of means to pursue goals that, alternatively, might be pursued with acceptable means. The key question for understanding this form of evil then becomes: What makes people choose evil means rather than other, more acceptable ones?

When I have the opportunity to interview one of these men, I always ask if the death penalty would have deterred him from his crime. Without exception, he'll say no. I asked one rapist why, and he responded by asking me a series of questions. Had I ever skipped school? Yes. Did I know in advance that I would be punished if caught? Yes. Then why did I do it? Because I didn't think I would be caught, I said. There you go, he said.

Loving what is right is different from hating what is wrong and feeling right about it.

Today they're making pictures that I wouldn't want Trigger to see.

The way he examines his conscience for bad faith is very much of his time, and yet also very modern, almost postmodern.

No sabemos explicarnos por qué el halcón devora a la paloma, y nuestra ignorancia se retuerce contra el Creador del Cielo y de la tierra, origen de la justicia y fuente de todo bien.

Patativa do Assaré: "É melhor escrever errado a coisa certa do que escrever certo a coisa errada...

Você deseja que haja justiça. Mas o sofrimento dos bons e os prazeres dos maus nos dizem que o universo não é uma ordem moral.

Detesto exibições de animais amestrados. Por quanto sofrimento aquelas pobres criaturas têm de passar a fim de dar uns poucos momentos de prazer a homens vazios de qualquer pensamento ou sentimento por eles.