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Ethics Quotes

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Ethics Quotes

“When war is waged, it is for the purpose of safeguarding or increasing one's capacity to make war. International politics are wholly involved in this vicious cycle. What is called national prestige consists in behaving always in such a way as to demoralize other nations by giving them the impression that, if it comes to war, one would certainly defeat them. What is called national security is an imaginary state of affairs in which one would retain the capacity to make war while depriving all other countries of it.”

IfsWayGivingWarCountryStatesPurposeNationsSecurityInvolvedEthicsCapacityAffairDefeatInternationalImpressionCyclesImaginaryOther CountriesNational SecurityViciousPrestigeDeprivingVicious CyclesSafeguarding
Author:Simone Weil
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“Let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle.”

MenDoeLyingNaturalForgetPrinciplesSupportViolenceCapableEthicsMethodIntimateFalsehoodRefugeLiving Alone
Book:The Gulag Archipelago Volume 2: An Experiment in Literary Investigation
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“Man is appealed to be guided in his acts, not merely by love, which is always personal, or at best tribal, but by his perception of his oneness with each human being. In the practice of mutual aid, which we can re-trace to the earliest beginnings of evolution, we thus find the positive and undoubted origin of our ethical conceptions; and we can affirm that in the ethical progress of man, mutual support- not mutual struggle- has had the leading part.”

MenHumansHuman BeingsPracticeSupportStruggleProgressEvolutionPerceptionEthicsAidsOnenessMutualEthicalConceptionMutual AidMutual Support
Book:Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
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“Those who keep the masses of men in subjection by exercising force and cruelty deprive them at once of two vital foods, liberty and obedience; for it is no longer within the power of such masses to accord their inner consent to the authority to which they are subjected. Those who encourage a state of things in which the hope of gain is the principle motive take away from men their obedience, for consent which is its essence is not something which can be sold.”

MenTwoStatesForceLibertyPrinciplesExerciseAuthorityMassEthicsGainsEssenceCrueltyObedienceMotiveConsentAccordSubjection
Author:Simone Weil
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“Why does everyone take for granted that we don't learn to grow arms, but rather, are designed to grow arms? Similarly, we should conclude that in the case of the development of moral systems; there's a biological endowment which in effect requires us to develop a system of moral judgment and a theory of justice, if you like, that in fact has detailed applicability over an enormous range.”

IfsShouldDoeFactsGrowsJusticeMoralCasesEffectsTheoryArmsDevelopmentJudgmentEthicsEnormousGrantedRangeEndowmentMoral Judgment
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important. This sense, as Mackintosh remarks, "has a rightful supremacy over every other principle of human action"; it is summed up in that short but imperious word "ought," so full of high significance. It is the most noble of all the attributes of man, leading him without a moment's hesitation to risk his life for that of a fellow-creature; or after due deliberation, impelled simply by the deep feeling of right or duty, to sacrifice it in some great cause.”

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Author:Charles Darwin
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“Ultimately a highly complex sentiment, having its first origin in the social instincts, largely guided by the approbation of our fellow-men, ruled by reason, self-interest, and in later times by deep religious feelings, confirmed by instruction and habit, all combined, constitute our moral sense or conscience.”

MenFirstsSelfReasonFeelingsSocialInterestReligiousMoralHabitEthicsConscienceFellowsInstinctComplexesSentimentsInstructionFellow ManSelf Interest
Book:Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies
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“To have something to say is a question of sleepless nights and worry and endless ratiocination of subject - of endless trying to dig out the essential truth, the essential justice. As a first premise you have to develop a conscience and if on top of that you have talent so much the better. But if you have talent without the conscience, you are just one of many thousands of journalists.”

IfsTryingFirstsNightJusticeWorrySubjectsTalentEssentialsEthicsConscienceEndlessJournalistJust OnePremisesSleepless Nights
Author:F. Scott Fitzgerald
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“In regard to the past, where contemplation is not obscured by desire and the need for action, we see, more clearly than in the lives about us, the value for good and evil, of the aims men have pursued and the means they have adopted. It is good, from time to time, to view the present as already past, and to examine what elements it contains that will add to the world's store of permanent possessions, that will live and give life when we and all our generation have perished.”

MenWorldNeedsGivingMeanActionPastDesireValuesEvilViewsGenerationsElementsEthicsRegardAimAddPossessionStoresPermanentContemplationGood And EvilAdoptedPursuedOur Generation
Book:Contemplation and Action, 1902-14
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“My own view, which does not rely solely on religious faith or even on an original idea, but rather on ordinary common sense, is that establishing binding ethical principles is possible when we take as our starting point the observation that we all desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering.”

DoeIdeasDesireSufferingWishReligiousMy OwnViewsCommonPrinciplesOrdinaryEthicsOriginalsStartingCommon SenseObservationRelyEthicalReligious FaithStarting PointBindingOriginal IdeasEthical Principles
Book:Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: Ethics for the New Millennium
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“Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of notoriously wicked men; but to rebuke great and good men for their conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of moral courage.”

MenLittlesEffortMoralOpinionPracticeNeededIntegrityHighestEthicsWickedGood ManBoldnessDiscernmentMoral CourageRebukeWicked Man
Book:Thoughts on African Colonization: Or an Impartial Exhibition of the Doctrines, Principles and Purposes of the American Colonization Society. Together with the Resolutions, Addresses and Remonstrances of the Free People of Color
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“Whether or not you have children yourself, you are a parent to the next generation. If we can only stop thinking of children as individual property and think of them as the next generation, then we can realize we all have a role to play.”

IfsThinkingChildrenPlayNextIndividualParentRealizingResponsibilityRolesGenerationsEthicsPropertyParentingParenthoodRole ModelsNext GenerationFuture GenerationBeing A ParentRutsBeing A Role Model
Author:Charlotte Sophia Kasl
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