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Ethics Quotes

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Ethics Quotes

“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.”

People Men Firsts Humans Long Religious Support Brother Duty Morality Ethics Gains Sacred Sake Ruins Human Life Behave Sacred Things Personal Gain

Author:Leo Tolstoy

“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.”

“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.”

Source: An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

“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.”

Source: Moral and Political Philosophy

“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.”

Source: Essays and Treatises on Philosophical Subjects

“I will be guided by the Christian ethic and an awareness that human action is by nature transient.”

Humans Action Christian Awareness Ethics Transient Human Actions Christian Ethics

Author:Horst Kohler

“Nothing gets a bigger laugh than when you refer to things like ethics or human rights.”

Humans Laughing Rights Ethics Bigger Human Rights

Author:Ron Silver

“In the relations of man with the animals, with the flowers, with all the objects of creation, there is a whole great ethic, scarcely perceived as yet, which will at length break through into the light, and which will be the corollary and the complement to human ethics.”

Humans Whole Animal Creation Objects Flower Ethics Relation Animal Rights

Author:Victor Hugo

“Human beings are not inevitable, and our brief existence is not preordained to be extended into the distant future. If Homo sapiens is to have a continued presence on earth, humankind will reevaluate its sense of place in the world and modify its strong species-centric stewardship of the planet. Our collective concepts of morality and ethics have a direct impact on our species' ultimate fate.”

“Human dignity can be achieved only in the field of ethics, and ethical achievement is measured by the degree in which our actions are governed by compassion and love, not by greed and aggressiveness.”

Humans Action Compassion Self Esteem Fields Degrees Achievement Ethics Dignity And Love Greed Esteem Ethical Our Actions Human Dignity Aggressiveness

Author:Arnold J. Toynbee

“The human person is in danger: this is certain, the human person is in danger today, here is the urgency of human ecology! And it is a serious danger because the cause of the problem is not superficial but profound: it is not just a matter of economics, but of ethics and anthropology.”

Humans Persons Matter Problem Today Certain Causes Common Danger Serious Ethics Economics Profound Ecology Superficial Urgency Anthropology Common Good

Author:Pope Francis

“I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.”

Source: Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives

“The hope of the future lies not in curbing the influence of human occupancy - it is already too late for that - but in creating a better understanding of the extent of that influence and a new ethic for its governance.”

Humans Lying Understanding Influence Late Creating Ethics Too Late Governance

Book:Game Management

Source: Game Management

“Aesthetics, ethics, and many good things in humans are contagious.”

Humans Ethics Good Things Aesthetics Contagious

Author:Nassim Nicholas Taleb

“When the study of the household (ecology) and the management of the household (economics) can be merged, and when ethics can be extended to include environmental as well as human values, then we can be optimistic about the future of humankind. Accordingly, bringing together these three ‘E's' is the ultimate holism and the great challenge for our future.”

Source: Ecology and our endangered life-support systems

“If we can get that realistic feminine morality working for us, if we can trust ourselves and so let women think and feel that an unwanted child or an oversize family is wrong -- not ethically wrong, not against the rules, but morally wrong, all wrong, wrong like a thalidomide birth, wrong like taking a wrong step that will break your neck -- if we can get feminine and human morality out from under the yoke of a dead ethic, then maybe we'll begin to get somewhere on the road that leads to survival.”

Ifs Thinking Feels Humans Children Steps Break Birth Morality Survival Ethics Necks Feminine Realistic Unwanted Yoke

Book:Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places

Source: Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places

“Human beings of all societies in all periods of history believe that their ideas on the nature of the real world are the most secure, and that their ideas on religion, ethics and justice are the most enlightened. Like us, they think that final knowledge is at last within reach. Like us, they pity the people in earlier ages for not knowing the true facts. Unfailingly, human beings pity their ancestors for being so ignorant and forget that their descendants will pity them for the same reason.”

“I gravitate toward the law, I think, certainly more times than not, because it's our best mechanism for legislating human behavior, and morality, and ethics.”

Thinking Humans Law Morality Behavior Ethics More Time Mechanism Human Behavior Morality And Ethics

Author:David E. Kelley