Philosophy & Thought: Ethics & Morality Quotes

"No man has a right to do what he pleases, except when he pleases to do right"

Charles Simmons, Politician

"More than anything, there are more images in evil. Evil is based far more on the visual, whereas good has no good images at all"

Lars von Trier, Director

"Every human must take responsibility for his actions"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"While all deception requires secrecy, all secrecy is not meant to deceive"

Sissela Bok, Philosopher

"Of two evils we must always choose the least"

Thomas a Kempis, Writer

"I do not think athletes should get a free pass. I don't think we should train our children and future athletes to believe that they are above the law and morality"

Armstrong Williams, Journalist

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable, and we should face up to it"

Lawrence Summers, Economist

"Our acts our angels are, for good or ill, our fatal shadows that walk by us still"

John Fletcher, Dramatist

"Countries and states which have capital punishment have a much higher rate of murder and crime than countries that do not, so that makes sense to me, and the moral question - I struggle with it morally"

Charlize Theron, Actress

"Murder is an offensive act. The term cannot be applied legitimately to any defensive act"

Benjamin Tucker, Activist

"Samurai culture did exist really, for hundreds of years and the notion of people trying to create some sort of a moral code, the idea that there existed certain behaviors that could be celebrated and that could be operative in a life"

Edward Zwick, Director

"I am a non Zionist because the Jew, in seeking a homeland of his own, seems to me to be giving up something of infinitely greater value of the world"

Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Publisher

"No intelligent man believes that anybody ever willingly errs or willingly does base and evil deeds; they are well aware that all who do base and evil things do them unwillingly"

Protagoras, Philosopher

"Virtue consisted in avoiding scandal and venereal disease"

Robert Cecil, Public Servant

"There is a method in man's wickedness; it grows up by degrees"

Francis Beaumont, Playwright

"The aim of law is the maximum gratification of the nervous system of man"

Learned Hand, Judge

"There are thus great swathes of the past where understanding is more important and reputable than judgement, because the principal actors performed in line with the ideas and values of that time, not of ours"

Douglas Hurd, Politician

"There is no sinner like a young saint"

Aphra Behn, Dramatist

"I think we can allow the therapeutic uses of nuclear transplant technology, which we call cloning, without running the danger of actually having live human beings born"

David Baltimore, Scientist

"To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage, or of principle"

Kong Fu Zi, Philosopher

"While conscience is our friend, all is at peace; however, once it is offended, farewell to a tranquil mind"

Mary Wortley Montagu, Writer

"Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character"

James Q. Wilson, Politician

"Be careful in dealing with a man who cares nothing for comfort or promotion, but is simply determined to do what he believes to be right. He is a dangerous, uncomfortable enemy, because his body, which you can always conquer, gives you little purchase upon his soul"

Gilbert Murray, Diplomat

"The more we get out of the world, the less we leave, and in the long run we shall have to pay our debts at a time that may be very inconvenient for our own survival"

Norbert Wiener, Mathematician

"People do want to know the personal things. How far is too far to go with personal lives?"

Mary Hart, Entertainer

"I'm an expert on the NewsHour, and it isn't how I practice journalism. I am not involved in the story. I serve only as a reporter or someone asking questions. I am not the story"

Jim Lehrer, Journalist

"In social matters, pointless conventions are not merely the bee sting of etiquette, but the snake bite of moral order"

Florence King, Writer

"The corruption of the American soul is consumerism"

Ben Nicholson, Artist

"The only kind of coercion I recommend is mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon by the majority of the people affected"

Garrett Hardin, Environmentalist

"Nor is it that truly a belief at all which has not some influence upon the actions of him who holds it"

William Kingdon Clifford, Mathematician

"I want to be a good person, not just a good tennis player"

Carlos Alcaraz, Athlete

"Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk"

Margaret Chase Smith, Politician

"A hero is a man who does what he can"

Romain Rolland, Novelist

"The national Democratic Party has embraced abortion on demand. I believe this position is wrong in principle and out of the mainstream of our party's historic commitment to protecting the powerless"

Robert Casey, Politician

"Unlimited power corrupts the possessor"

William Pitt, Leader

"Morality and expediency coincide more than the cynics allow"

Roy Hattersley, Statesman

"Familiarity with evil breeds not contempt but acceptance"

Roy Hattersley, Statesman

"Life is essentially a question of values"

Meir Kahane, Clergyman

"We think that it is the best scientists working in the frontier fields of science who are best able to judge what is good and what is bad - if any - in the application of their scientific research"

Kenichi Fukui, Scientist

"I think that what went wrong with religion is the same thing that went wrong with politics. Is that it became too money based and too controlling. It's just a weakness that we human beings have for control - we want one thing and then we want more and then we want more"

Dave Davies, Musician

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