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Ethics Quotes

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Ethics Quotes

“Is it easy to love God' asks an old author. 'It is easy,' he replies, 'to those who do it.' I have included two Graces under the word Charity. But God can give a third. He can awake in man, towards Himself, a supernatural Appreciative love. This is of all gifts the most to be desired. Here, not in our natural loves, nor even in ethics, lies the true centre of all human and angelic life. With this all things are possible.”

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Author:C. S. Lewis
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“If Ibsen's 'Enemy of the People' were alive today, he would recognize the ethic that has informed capitalist and communist countries alike - economic growth before public health and well-being. The true enemies of the people ar those who continue to sacrifice our long-term interests for short-term gains. But perhaps we should all look in the mirror.”

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Author:Susannah York
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“Mysticism has often been misunderstood as the attempt to escape this simple, phenomenal world to a more pure existence in heaven beyond. This is not mysticism, but Gnosticism. Biblical mysticism is the attempt to exit 'this world' to an alternative reality that pervades the old order. Its goal is to jettison the mind-set that says 'greed is good,' selfishness is normal,' and 'killing is necessary.' Mysticism in biblical terms is not escapism, as so many have caricatured it, but a fight for ethics and social change.”

WorldMindRealityOrderFightingHeavenSocialGoalTermSimpleExistenceThis WorldPureNormalEthicsKillingGreedAlternativesSelfishnessMysticismBiblicalSocial ChangeMisunderstoodExitPhenomenalEscapismMind SetGnosticismGreed Is Good
Author:Walter Wink
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“Well, one of the most important things for Americans to be reminded of is that a lot of the exceptional nature of our country is founded in Judeo-Christian values that promotes individualism, personal responsibility, a strong work ethic, and a commitment to family, charity.”

WellsImportantCountryChristianValuesStrongResponsibilityEthicsCommitmentImportant ThingsCharityOur CountryIndividualismWork EthicExceptionalPersonal ResponsibilityChristian ValuesStrong Work Ethic
Author:Jim DeMint
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“Self-discipline, although difficult, and not always easy while combating negative emotions, should be a defensive measure. At least we will be able to prevent the advent of negative conduct dominated by negative emotion. That is 'shila', or moral ethics. Once we develop this by familiarizing ourselves with it, along with mindfulness and conscientiousness, eventually that pattern and way of life will become a part of our own life.”

WayShouldSelfAbleEasyDifficultEmotionMoralDisciplineMindfulnessEthicsNegativePatternsSelf DisciplineAdventNegative EmotionsMoral EthicsConscientiousness
Author:Dalai Lama
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“To the extent that we hyper-separate ourselves from nature and reduce it conceptually in order to justify domination, we not only lose the ability to empathise and to see the non-human sphere in ethical terms, but also get a false sense of our own character and location that includes an illusory sense of autonomy. The failure to see the non-human domain in the richer terms appropriate to ethics licences supposedly ‘purely instrumental’ relationships that distort our perceptions and enframings, impoverish our relations and make us insensitive to dependencies and interconnections”

HumansCharacterOrderUnderstandingTermNatureLosesAbilityCompassionRelationshipFailurePerceptionEmpathyEthicsRelationIncludingSeparationAppropriateJustifyEthicalSympathySpheresLocationDominationAutonomyDomainHumaneReducingDistortionDependencyHyperIllusoryInsensitiveInterconnection
Book:Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason
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“We don't usually think of what we eat as a matter of ethics. Stealing, lying, hurting people - these acts are obviously relevant to our moral character. In ancient Greece and Rome, ethical choices about food were considered at least as significant as ethical choices about sex.”

PeopleThinkingMatterCharacterLyingChoicesSexHurtMoralEthicsAncientSignificantStealingEthicalVegetarianRomeRelevantGreeceMoral CharacterAncient GreeceHurting PeopleGreece And Rome
Book:The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter
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“The question is, when so many others cut corners, shave the truth, self-deal, believe in the fast buck, and follow the crowd along the low road of least resistance, can we even afford to travel the high road of ethical behavior? Frankly, we can't afford anything else. Any other competitive angle is a pure crapshoot in today's business world. Companies with shaky ethics and shabby standards will be crippled as they try to compete in our changing world.”

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Author:Price Pritchett
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“From the apparent usefulness of the social virtues, it has readily been inferred by sceptics, both ancient and modern, that all moral distinctions arise from education, and were, at first, invented, and afterwards encouraged ... in order to render men tractable, and subdue their natural ferocity and selfishness, which incapacitated them for society.”

MenFirstsOrderSocialNaturalMoralVirtueModernMoralityEthicsAncientAriseSelfishnessDistinctionUsefulnessScepticFerocity
Book:An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“So long as people do not consider all men as their brothers and do not consider human life as the most sacred thing, which rather than destroy they must consider it their first and foremost duty to support; that is so long as people do not behave towards one another in a religious manner, they will always ruin one another's lives for the sake of personal gain.”

PeopleMenFirstsHumansLongReligiousSupportBrotherDutyMoralityEthicsGainsSacredSakeRuinsHuman LifeBehaveSacred ThingsPersonal Gain
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“My doctrine means that I must identify myself with life, with everything that lives, that I must share the majesty of life in the presence of God. The sum-total of this life is God. .. Man is not at peace with himself until he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realisation. This self-realisation is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures... to be a real devotee is to realise oneself. Self-realisation is not something apart.”

MenMeanRealSelfStatesLife IsShareSubjectsMoralityAmbitionEthicsOneselfScriptureSupremeDoctrineThis LifeEndeavorRealisingMajestyPresence Of GodRealisationGitaSelf RealisationDevotee
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“There has been a controversy started of late, much better worth examination, concerning the general foundation of Morals; whether they be derived from Reason, or from Sentiment; whether we attain the knowledge of them by a chain of argument and induction, or by an immediate feeling and finer internal sense; whether, like all sound judgement of truth and falsehood, they should be the same to every rational intelligent being; or whether, like the perception of beauty and deformity, they be founded entirely on the particular fabric and constitution of the human species.”

ShouldHumansHas BeensReasonFeelingsSoundMoralParticularMoralityLatePerceptionEthicsArgumentConstitutionIntelligentFoundationSpeciesRationalChainsJudgementInternalsSentimentsFalsehoodFabricControversyExaminationHuman SpeciesDeformityTruth And FalsehoodPerception Of BeautySound Judgement
Author:David Hume
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“Truth is disputable; not taste: what exists in the nature of things is the standard of our judgement; what each man feels within himself is the standard of sentiment. Propositions in geometry may be proved, systems in physics may be controverted; but the harmony of verse, the tenderness of passion, the brilliancy of wit, must give immediate pleasure. No man reasons concerning another's beauty; but frequently concerning the justice or injustice of his actions.”

MenGivingFeelsMayReasonActionPassionJusticePleasureMoralityTasteTruth IsStandardsEthicsHarmonyInjusticePhysicsWitJudgementSentimentsTendernessVersesPropositionsGeometry
Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Revision of Great Book
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“These arguments on each side (and many more might be produced) are so plausible, that I am apt to suspect, they may, the one as well as the other, be solid and satisfactory, and that reason and sentiment concur in almost all moral determinations and conclusions.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“.. that which renders morality an active principle and constitutes virtue our happiness, and vice our misery: it is probable, I say, that this final sentence depends on some internal sense or feeling, which nature has made universal in the whole species.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals: A Critical Edition
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“But in many orders of beauty, particularly those of the finer arts, it is requisite to employ much reasoning, in order to feel the proper sentiment; and a false relish may frequently be corrected by argument and reflection. There are just grounds to conclude, that moral beauty partakes of this latter species, and demands the assistance of our intellectual faculties, in order to give it a suitable influence on the human mind.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“We may observe that, in displaying the praises of any humane, beneficent man, there is one circumstance which never fails to be amply insisted on, namely, the happiness and satisfaction, derived to society from his intercourse and good offices.”

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Book:And the human understanding. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. Appendix. The natural history of religion
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“In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view; and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy or common life, concerning the bounds of duty, the questions cannot, by any means, be decided with greater certainty, than by ascertaining, on any side, the true interests of mankind. If any false opinion, embraced from appearances, has been found to prevail; as soon as farther experience and sounder reasoning have given us juster notions of human affairs, we retract our first sentiment, and adjust anew the boundaries of moral good and evil.”

IfsFirstsHumansMeanHas BeensPhilosophyEvilFoundGivenSidesInterestViewsCommonMoralOpinionGreaterMankindDutyCircumstancesMoralityEthicsDeterminationDecidedNotionBoundsAffairAppearanceBoundariesAriseCertaintyReasoningGood And EvilSentimentsDisputesUtilityCommon LifeSounder
Book:Moral and Political Philosophy
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“He sees such a desperate rapaciousness prevail; such a disregard to equity, such contempt of order, such stupid blindness to future consequences, as must immediately have the most tragical conclusion, and most terminate in destruction to the greater number, and in a total dissolution of society to the rest.”

OrderNumbersGreaterStupidMoralityEthicsConsequenceDestructionConclusionDesperateContemptBlindnessEquityDisregardDissolution
Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“But, historians, and even common sense, may inform us, that, however specious these ideas of perfect equality may seem, they are really, at bottom, impracticable; and were they not so, would be extremely pernicious to human society. Render possessions ever so equal, men's different degrees of art, care, and industry will immediately break that equality. Or if you check these virtues, you reduce society to the most extreme indigence; and instead of preventing want and beggary in a few, render it unavoidable to the whole community.”

IfsMenWantHumansMayArtIdeasDifferentWholeSeemsWould BeCareCommunityPerfectCommonBreakVirtueIndustryMoralityEqualDegreesEthicsBottomPossessionExtremesChecksCommon SenseHistorianPreventingHuman SocietyPerniciousBeggary
Book:Essays and Treatises on Philosophical Subjects
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“We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation of man; must reject appearances, which may be false, though specious; and must search for those rules, which are, on the whole, most useful and beneficial.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“The Noble Eight-Fold Path is the path of living in awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation. By practicing mindfulness, you can develop concentration, which enables you to attain understanding. Thanks to right concentration, you realize right awareness, thoughts, speech, action, livelihood and effort. The understanding which develops can liberate you from every shackle of suffering and give birth to true peace and joy.”

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Author:Nhat Hanh
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