Best ethics & self Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“Simplicity in its essence demands neither a vow of poverty nor a life of rural homesteading. As an ethic of self-conscious material moderation, it can be practiced in cities and suburbs, townhouses and condominiums. It requires neither a log cabin nor a hairshirt but a deliberate ordering of priorities so as to distinguish between the necessary and superfluous, useful and wasteful, beautiful and vulgar.”

“We've gotta restore the American people's confidence in the ethics process by ensuring that political self-interest can no longer prevent politicians from enforcing ethics rules.”

People Self Political Process Interest Politician Ethics Self Interest

Author:Barack Obama

“Lysenkoism: A forlorn attempt not merely to colonize the botanical kingdom, but to instill a proper sense of the puritan work ethic and the merits of self-improvement.”

Self Self Improvement Ethics Improvement Kingdoms Merit Work Ethic Puritan Instill Forlorn

Author:J. G. Ballard

“The goal that the Obama team has is to fundamentally replace the historic America of self reliance, independence, the work ethic, the people who go out and achieve because they spend their lifetime doing the right things and they want to replace it with a politician dominated redistributionist bureaucracy which in the essence would mean the end of the America as it has been for the last 400 years.”

“Fantasy is a literature particularly useful for embodying and examining the real difference between good and evil. In an America where our reality may seem degraded to posturing patriotism and self-righteous brutality, imaginative literature continues to question what heroism is, to examine the roots of power, and to offer moral alternatives. Imagination is the instrument of ethics. There are many metaphors besides battle, many choices besides war, and most ways of doing good do not, in fact, involve killing anybody. Fanstasy is good at thinking about those other ways.”

“You cannot have a boundary-less existence, because your neighbor has his own boundaries, and who is going to give you the ethics between the two boundaries? If there is no objective moral law, relativism will take hold, and relativism ultimately will lead to self-destruction.”

Ifs Giving Two Self Law Existence Moral Ethics Destruction Neighbor Boundaries Objectives Self Destruction Relativism Moral Law

Author:Ravi Zacharias

“If you ask a Saudi Imam why women in Saudi Arabia can't drive, he'll say, 'Because Islam demands it.' But that's absurd, because - first of all - Islam demands no such thing; and secondly, the only country in the world in which women can't drive is Saudi Arabia. The inability to understand the difference between a cultural practice and religious belief is shocking among self-described intellectuals.”

“... the self respect of individuals ought to make them demand of their leaders conformity with an agreed-upon code of ethics and moral conduct.”

Self Individual Leadership Leader Moral Ought Morality Demand Respect Ethics Code Self Respect Conformity Ethics And Morals Code Of Ethics

Author:Mary Barnett Gilson

“Self-restraint is the very keystone of the ethics of vow-taking.”

Self Ethics Restraint Vow Self Restraint Keystones

Book:The Good Life

Source: The Good Life

“I hope I pass on my dad's good humor, work ethic and lack of self-seriousness. Our house was always a fun place where you'd get knocked around quickly if you took yourself too seriously.”

Ifs Self House Fun Dad Ethics My Dad Work Ethic Seriousness Good Humor

Author:Willie Geist

“There's a floating distraction in the contemporary world, life at a distance enabled by technology. I want people to commit at the level of their subjectivity. The idea of subjective commitment is at the core of ethics, something that divides the self from itself. I become an ethical self. I cannot meet that ideal, I cannot fulfill it, it divides me from myself and it makes me strive harder. This ideal subjective ethical drive is at the heart of an absolutely earnest, radical politics that insists that people will be able to engage with each other, and they're lifted from irony at that point.”

“Repentance is replete with radical implications for a fundamental change of mind not only turns us from the sinful past, but also transforms our life plan, ethics, and actions as we begin to see the world through God's eyes rather than ours. That kind of transformation requires the ultimate surrender of self.”

World Mind Kind Self Eye Action Past Turns Our Lives Plans Ethics Ultimate Transformation Fundamentals Surrender Radical Repentance Implications Mind Changing

Author:Charles Colson

“The process is really what you have to do day in and day out to be successful, we try to define the standard that we want everybody to sort of work toward, adhere to, and do it on a consistent basis. And the things that I talked about before, being responsible for your own self-determination, having a positive attitude, having great work ethic, having discipline to be able to execute on a consistent basis, whatever it is you're trying to do, those are the things that we try to focus on, and we don't try to focus as much on the outcomes as we do on being all that you can be.”

“Nothing will serve you better than a strong work ethic. Nothing. And it's something that you can't teach. You have to be thrown into it, where you're going to sink or swim. It's amazing how self-correcting and how clarifying a good, hard, shitty job can be. Because at the end of the day, any profession I've seen anybody in, when you peer behind the curtains of Oh, wouldn't that be a great job? Wow, what an amazing thing, a philanthropic endeavor! it really just comes down to It's a f**king grind.”

“American art in general... takes to surreal exaggerations and metaphors; but its Puritan work ethic has little use for the playful self-indulgence behind Parisian Surrealism.”

Littles Art Self Use Behinds Ethics Metaphor Work Ethic Surreal Indulgence Exaggeration Surrealism Puritan Self Indulgence

Author:John Updike

“There are so many people with great work ethics that I've been around. I try and take the best qualities from the people I admire and apply it to my own self.”

People Trying Self My Own Quality Ethics Admire Work Ethic Great Work Great Work Ethic

Author:Big Sean

“It has been an obsession of human beings to create a hierarchy that places the human species on top and lumps all the "other animals" together beneath us. The resulting "speciesism" allows us to look upon animals as less deserving of all manner of rights and considerations than humans. To support this lower status, humans have argued that animals act instinctually; don't have souls; don't feel physical pain like we do; and lack self-consciousness, cognitive intelligence, emotional feelings, morality, and ethics.”

“From the beginning, there has been a tension in the reception of the Kantian idea of autonomy. If you emphasize the 'nomos' (the law), then you get one picture: the objectivity of ethics. If you emphasize the 'autos' - the self - you get the idea that we make the law. Kant never hesitated in his choice between the two emphases. He emphasizes the nomos (the universal and objective validity of the law).”

Ifs Has Beens Two Ideas Self Law Choices Ethics Universal Objectives Tension Emphasis Autonomy Objectivity Validity Reception

Author:Allen W. Wood

“I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.”

Heart Self My Own Integrity Ethics Pope Cardinals

Author:Martin Luther

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”

Believe Kind Self Motivational Happiness Belief Achieve Self Esteem Possibility Acceptance Trust Confidence Achievement Comfortable Self Improvement Ethics Transformation Happy Self Confidence Tiny Esteem Live Life Flames Believe In Yourself Sparks Love Yourself Being Happy Living My Life Distrust Inner Self True Happiness Trust Yourself Be True To Yourself Inner Life Have Confidence Listen To Your Heart Boost Self Transformation Boost Self Confidence Listen To Yourself Boost Self Esteem Belief In Self Self Esteem And Confidence Self-importance Confidence In Yourself Self Trust Live Life Happy Confidence Boosting Boost Your Confidence Happiness Is A Choice Boost Your Self Esteem I Trust You Belief In Yourself Trust And Respect Inspirational Confidence Self Confidence Motivational Inspirational Self Esteem Inspirational Self Confidence Self Inspirational Proud Of Yourself Trusting You Live For Yourself Trust Respect Trusting Each Other

Author:Golda Meir

“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.”

Life Self Able Political Events Integrity Ethics Temptation Law Of Attraction Self Control Self Mastery Power And Control Self Power Discipline And Self Control

Book:Montaigne's Essays: Top Essays

Source: Montaigne's Essays: Top Essays

“I came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is a law. While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over-the-top. I put it on eBay.”

Should Believe Ends Self Today Law Culture Pay Citizens Office Majors Ethics Should Have Luxury Reform Governors Jet Over The Top Ebay

Author:Sarah Palin

“In virtually every Western society in the 1960s there was a moral revolution, an abandonment of its entire traditional ethic of self-restraint.”

Self Moral Revolution Ethics Western Traditional Restraint 1960s Abandonment Self Restraint Western Society

Author:Jonathan Sacks

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Men Inspirational Self Character Lying Night Honesty Honor Integrity Self Improvement Ethics Genuine Authenticity Reputation Being True Being Honest Self Respect Self Motivation Graduation Day Know Yourself Self Interest Sonnet Playwright Straightforward Day And Night Be True To Yourself True To Yourself Authentic Self Know Thyself Good Character Absolute Truth Great Character True Meaning Truth And Honesty Honesty Integrity Truth Honesty Horatio Hamlet And Ophelia Ophelia Integrity And Character Honest And Integrity Integrity Character Good Reputation Hamlet 2 Honor And Integrity Hamlet Ophelia Important Hamlet Man Of Integrity Polonius Being Authentic Mortality In Hamlet Finding Out The Truth Morality In Hamlet Personal Motivation Trueness Hamlet Significant Morals And Integrity Honor And Respect Denmark In Hamlet Day Night Being Trusted False Appearances Don't Lie To Me Appropriate Behavior Describe Yourself

Author:William Shakespeare

“Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.”

“They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.”

Ifs Inspirational Giving Self Poverty Wise Integrity Respect Ethics Determination Self Respect Self Determination Respect Yourself

Author:Mahatma Gandhi

“Robinson Crusoe, the first capitalist hero, is a self-made man who accepts objective reality and then fashions it to his needs through the work ethic, common sense, resilience, technology, and, if need be, racism and imperialism.”

“You don't have to do everything by the time you're 30. Or 40. All you need is a work ethic. It's what allows you to push through moments of disappointment and self-doubt and fear.”

Needs Self Moments Doubt Ethics Disappointment Work Ethic Self-doubt Doubt And Fear

Author:Candace Bushnell

“Too often students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class—or worse, some kind of self-help manual. In fact, the important thing is the way the writer uses the language.”

Ifs Way Kind Important Self Facts Helping Use Literature Language Class Self Help Students Taught Ethics Important Things Civics Manuals

Author:Francine Prose

“Self-trust is the first secret of success.”

Source: The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Society and solitude

“In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned.”

Life Inspirational Self Self Esteem Respect Ethics Esteem Self Respect Respectful Respect Yourself Be Respectful Respect Me Women Self Respect Self Respect And Dignity

Author:Jane Haddam

“Still, even the most admirable of atheists is nothing more than a moral parasite, living his life based on borrowed ethics. This is why, when pressed, the atheist will often attempt to hide his lack of conviction in his own beliefs behind some poorly formulated utilitarianism, or argue that he acts out of altruistic self-interest. But this is only post-facto rationalization, not reason or rational behavior.”

“A code of ethics cannot be developed overnight by edict or official pronouncement. It is developed by years of practice and performance of duty according to high ethical standards. It must be self-policing. Without such a code, a professional soldier or a group soon loses identity and effectiveness. Once we know our job, have a genuine code of ethics, and maintain unquestioned personal integrity, we have met the first and most demanding challenge of leadership.”

“There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.”

Firsts Two Self Action Values Interest Moral Principles Acceptance Morality Ethics Tests Our Actions Utility Self Interest

Author:Charles Caleb Colton

“A just cause should need no interpretation yet flounders when confronted by self- interest and corruption.”

Needs Should Self Causes Interest Morality Ethics Corruption Interpretation Self Interest

Author:Peter Dunne

“Real self-esteem has to be earned. I also believe in virtuous circles, like, nothing is fun until you are good at it. It is great if you can instill in children the ability to not give up, to have a work ethic.”

Ifs Giving Believe Children Real Self Fun Ability Self Esteem Giving Up Ethics Circles Esteem Virtuous Work Ethic Not Giving Up Instill Real Self

Author:Amy Chua

“Ethics doesn't require us to ignore our self-interests or demand a life of self-sacrifice. It requires that we know the difference between what we want and what we should do”

Knows Want Should Self Interest Differences Sacrifice Demand Ethics Charity Self Interest Self Sacrifice

Author:Michael Josephson

“As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.”

Self Science Process Moral Morality Prove Ethics Accounts Species Superiors Combination Destroying Inferiors Unstable

Book:Voices from the Sky

Source: Voices from the Sky

“O beautiful for spacious skies, . . . O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Til all success be nobleness And every gain divine!”

May Self Country America Beautiful Business Society Sky Divine Hero Ethics Gains Gold Mercy Strife Liberating

Book:America the Beautiful: And Other Poems

Source: America the Beautiful: And Other Poems

“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs [e.g. the sacrifice of many victims] of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?”

“Happiness, then, is found to be something perfect and self-sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed.”

Ends Self Action Happiness Found Perfect Ethics Sufficient Our Actions Self Sufficient Nicomachean Ethics

Author:Aristotle

“There's a lot of talk about self-esteem these days. It seems pretty basic to me. If you eat to feel proud of yourself, you've got to do things you can be proud of. Feelings follow actions.”

Ifs Feels Self Feelings Seems Action Self Esteem Proud Ethics Esteem These Days Be Proud Proud Of You Proud Of Yourself

Author:Oseola McCarty

“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.”

Source: Evolutionary Writings: including the Autobiographies

“There is a great deal of self-will in the world, but very little genuine independence of character.”

World Littles Self Character Deals Integrity Ethics Independence Genuine Self Will

Book:Spiritual conferences

Source: Spiritual conferences

“The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own.”

Trying Self Individual Depends Respect Ethics Capacity Neighbor Self Respect Shortcomings Getting Along

Book:The Ordeal of Change

Source: The Ordeal of Change

“Are psychiatric crises so overwhelming to the mind that they inhibit the presence of ethics? Is depression at root an amoral phenomenon, its focus on the self preventing any other from really counting? Perhaps. Sometimes. Sometimes, even when we are two we are really only one; we can feel nothing but our own bones, our own difficult breaths.”

Feels Mind Two Self Sometimes Difficult Focus Depression Ethics Roots Breaths Crisis Illness Bones Mental Illness Phenomenon Overwhelming Counting Preventing Psychiatric

Author:Lauren Slater

“A land ethic...reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of the land. Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity.”

Self Turns Individual Effort Existence Responsibility Land Ethics Conscience Capacity Conviction Preserves Conservation Renewal Ecological Individual Responsibility Land Conservation

Author:Aldo Leopold

“If we can look upon our work not for self-benefit,but as a means to benefit society,we will be practicing appreciation and patience in our daily lives.”

Ifs Looks Mean Self Discipline Benefits Ethics Appreciation Look Up Daily Life Self Discipline

Author:Gautama Buddha

“Prior to the advent of the civilization of the Third Estate (mercantilism, capitalism), the social ethics that was religiously sanctioned in the West consisted in realizing one’s being and in achieving one’s own perfection within the fixed parameters that one’s individual nature and the group to which one belonged clearly defined. Economic activity, work, and profit were justified only in the measure in which they were necessary for sustenance and to ensure the dignity of an existence conformed to one’s own estate, without the lower instinct of self-interest or profit coming first.”

“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.”

Way Should Self Able Easy Difficult Emotion Moral Discipline Mindfulness Ethics Negative Patterns Self Discipline Advent Negative Emotions Moral Ethics Conscientiousness

Author:Dalai Lama

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Ethics Quotes