Philosophy & Thought: Ethics & Morality Quotes

"The weapon of the Republic is terror, and virtue is its strength"

Georg Buchner, Dramatist

"America does not want vulgarity and sexual exploitation to be our values and we do not want the world to think those are our standards. We want to be a better nation and a better people, with better standards"

Charles W. Pickering, Judge

"If a superior give any order to one who is under him which is against that man's conscience, although he do not obey it, yet he shall not be dismissed"

Francis of Assisi, Saint

"The motive power of democracy is love"

Henri Bergson, Philosopher

"Virtue is its own reward, and brings with it the truest and highest pleasure; but if we cultivate it only for pleasure's sake, we are selfish, not religious, and will never gain the pleasure, because we can never have the virtue"

John Henry Newman, Clergyman

"Of two evils, the less is always to be chosen"

Thomas Kempis, Writer

"Honour sinks where commerce long prevails"

Oliver Goldsmith, Poet

"Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent, it seldom has justice enough to accuse"

Oliver Goldsmith, Poet

"Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance"

John Henry Newman, Clergyman

"At the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done"

Thomas Kempis, Writer

"A rich rogue nowadays is fit company for any gentleman; and the world, my dear, hath not such a contempt for roguery as you imagine"

John Gay, Poet

"Never let a man imagine that he can pursue a good end by evil means, without sinning against his own soul. The evil effect on himself is certain"

Robert Southey, Poet

"That's my personal view. I would say most in my caucus agree with that, but there are some who don't, and I've always said that on these kinds of moral issues, people have the right to their own opinions"

Stephen Harper, Politician

"As for an authentic villain, the real thing, the absolute, the artist, one rarely meets him even once in a lifetime. The ordinary bad hat is always in part a decent fellow"

Sidonie Gabrielle Colette, Novelist

"Tolerance always has limits - it cannot tolerate what is itself actively intolerant"

Sidney Hook, Philosopher

"I think perfect objectivity is an unrealistic goal; fairness, however, is not"

Michael Pollan, Educator

"It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it"

Eugene V. Debs, Politician

"Philosophy, most broadly viewed, is the critical survey of existence from the standpoint of value"

Sidney Hook, Philosopher

"We all know our duty better than we discharge it"

John Randolph, Leader

"I don't believe an Alliance government should sponsor legislation on abortion or a referendum on abortion"

Stephen Harper, Politician

"But I've been very clear in this campaign - I don't believe the party should have a position on abortion"

Stephen Harper, Politician

"To use for our exclusive benefit what is not ours is theft"

Jose Marti, Activist

"Those who say that life is worth living at any cost have already written an epitaph of infamy, for there is no cause and no person that they will not betray to stay alive"

Sidney Hook, Philosopher

"Each is responsible for his own actions"

H. L. Hunt, Businessman

"A selfish man is a thief"

Jose Marti, Activist

"To give one's life is a right only when one gives it unselfishly"

Jose Marti, Activist

"It is a sin not to do what one is capable of doing"

Jose Marti, Activist

"One is guilty of all abjection that one does not help to relieve"

Jose Marti, Activist

"Just as he who gives his life to serve a great idea is admirable, he who avails himself of a great idea to serve his personal hopes of glory and power is abominable, even if he too risks his life"

Jose Marti, Activist

"The best is he who calls men to the best. And those who heed the call are also blessed. But worthless, who call not, heed not, but rest"

Hesiod, Poet

"A growing and increasingly influential movement of philosophers, ethicists, law professors and activists are convinced that the great moral struggle of our time will be for the rights of animals"

Michael Pollan, Educator

"On the whole, the world was friendly. It chiefly depended on whether one were good or not"

Georg Brandes, Critic

"I was at home then in the world of figures, but not in that of values"

Georg Brandes, Critic

"I encountered among my comrades the most varied human traits, from frankness to reserve, from goodness, uprightness, and kindness, to brutality and baseness"

Georg Brandes, Critic

"He fashions evil for himself who does evil to another, and an evil plan does mischief to the planner"

Hesiod, Poet

"Fairness forces you - even when you're writing a piece highly critical of, say, genetically modified food, as I have done - to make sure you represent the other side as extensively and as accurately as you possibly can"

Michael Pollan, Educator

"For at the same time many people seem eager to extend the circle of our moral consideration to animals, in our factory farms and laboratories we are inflicting more suffering on more animals than at any time in history"

Michael Pollan, Educator

"Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred"

Jacques Barzun, Educator

"So much of our lives is given over to the consideration of our imperfections that there is no time to improve our imaginary virtues. The truth is we only perfect our vices, and man is a worse creature when he dies than he was when he was born"

Edward Dahlberg, Novelist

"Nothing in our times has become so unattractive as virtue"

Edward Dahlberg, Novelist

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