Philosophy & Thought: Ethics & Morality Quotes

"The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority"

Stanley Milgram, Psychologist

"To help all created things, that is the measure of all our responsibility; to be helped by all, that is the measure of our hope"

Gerald Vann, Theologian

"I don't know that there is too far, actually. I think there's only too bad. If it's bad you've gone too far"

Kenneth Branagh, Actor

"It is wrong to use equal language for unequal actions"

Peter Akinola, Clergyman

"Poisons and medicine are oftentimes the same substance given with different intents"

Peter Latham, Athlete

"He uses his good powers for evil, and that's when it gets to the dangerous side of it"

Rosario Dawson, Actress

"For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norms, even our cultural ideal"

Carl Bernstein, Journalist

"To let politics become a cesspool, and then avoid it because it is a cesspool, is a double crime"

Howard Crosby, Clergyman

"Because impudence is a vice, it does not follow that modesty is a virtue; it is built upon shame, a passion in our nature, and may be either good or bad according to the actions performed from that motive"

Bernard de Mandeville, Philosopher

"Guilt is a weird thing to me. I don't have a lot of it"

Andy Dick, Actor

"You don't become a saint until you lead a good life, whether in Tibet or Italy or America"

Kenneth Rexroth, Poet

"It makes my skin crawl to think about the violent ways snakes, lizards, alligators and other exotic creatures are raised and killed for boots, bags and belts"

Kelly Brook, Model

"Maybe I'll learn how, but the only thing I can do is turn down parts that would hurt my conscience"

Victoria Jackson, Comedian

"It is good for society to have this introspection"

Jacques Verges, Lawyer

"If there were a clear prospect that such evils were part of a barbarian past, then at least we might find a small crumb of comfort. No such prospect exists: no scientific analysis can even remotely answer or account for past and present horrors of human behaviour"

Simon Conway Morris, Scientist

"I said in sharp language that that practice was wrong"

Ken Starr, Lawyer

"The problem here is with a human being, not with a monster, not with an animal. The human being does things that even the monster does not do, because the human is more sophisticated"

Peter Malkin, Public Servant

"It was hard to figure out what were the good causes, the bad causes, even the good politics and the bad politics. So we started taking requests and figuring it out"

Jeff Ament, Musician

"It is easy to ignore responsibility when one is only an intermediate link in a chain of action"

Stanley Milgram, Psychologist

"I always look at films as real stories with real people in real situations. That's why I struggle with the whole notion of calling someone the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy,' because I think we all have potential to do good things and all have the potential to do bad things"

Guy Pearce, Actor

"Being a hooker does not mean being evil. The same with a pick-pocket, or even a thief. You do what you do out of necessity"

Samuel Fuller, Director

"How extraordinary it is that one feels most guilt about the sins one is unable to commit"

V. S. Pritchett, Writer

"There is nothing evil save that which perverts the mind and shackles the conscience"

Saint Ambrose, Saint

"Just because I don't do bad things doesn't mean I don't have bad thoughts"

Kristin Kreuk, Actress

"There is another side to chivalry. If it dispenses leniency, it may, with equal justification, invoke control"

Freda Adler, Educator

"Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness"

Dewitt Bodeen, Screenwriter

"Were there no desire, there would be no virtue, and because one man desires what another does not, who shall say whether the child of his desire be Vice or Virtue?"

Edgar Rice Burroghs, Writer

"Once you are dancing with the devil, the prettiest capers won't help you"

E. T. A. Hoffmann, Critic

"I courted fame, but as a spur to brave and honest deeds; who despises fame will soon renounce the virtues that deserve it"

David Mallet, Dramatist

"Religion without morality is a superstition and a curse, and morality without religion is impossible"

Mark Hopkins, Educator

"Hey, you want to hear my philosophy of life? Do it to him before he does it to you"

Budd Schulberg, Writer

"Yes, we have the freedom to do what we please, but it only works because we don't do everything we might please - we should exercise some degree of personal and corporate responsibility"

Tammy Bruce, Author

"We need not worry so much about what man descends from - it's what he descends to that shames the human race"

Hal Boyle, Reporter

"We've all got to look at ourselves, start with yourself, that's all you can do. I believe that we can act responsibly as a group, it's just that there are vested interests telling us not to bother"

Ben Elton, Comedian

"The possession of arbitrary power has always, the world over, tended irresistibly to destroy humane sensibility, magnanimity, and truth"

Frederick Law Olmsted, Architect

"Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway"

Isabelle Holland, Writer

"It was better, he thought, to fail in attempting exquisite things than to succeed in the department of the utterly contemptible"

Arthur Machen, Author

"It seems that whatever we do is somehow beyond reproach - murder, rape, drunk driving - as long as we go on a TV show and apologize"

Eric Stoltz, Actor

"I am a follower of Mahatma Gandhi"

Abdurrahman Wahid, Statesman

"Temptation is the fire that brings up the scum of the heart"

Thomas Boston, Clergyman

Page 72 of 78