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Moral Quotes

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Moral Quotes

“O! useful may it be to have shewn, that, though the vicious can sometimes pour affliction upon the good, their power is transient and their punishment certain; and that innocence, though oppressed by injustice, shall, supported by patience, finally triumph over misfortune!And, if the weak hand, that has recorded this tale, has, by its scenes, beguiled the mourner of one hour of sorrow, or, by its moral, taught him to sustain it—the effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the writer unrewarded.”

IfsMaySometimesHandsCertainHoursEffortMoralTaughtSorrowSceneWeakInjusticeHumblePunishmentTalesInnocenceTriumphVainMisfortunesOppressedAfflictionViciousTransientOne Hour
Book:Five Gothic Masterpieces: The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Great God Pan, Frankenstein, Carmilla, and Dracula
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“As a result of changes which, over the last century, have modified our empirically based pictures of the world and hence the moral value of many of its elements, the "human religious ideal" inclines to stress certain tendencies and to express itself in terms which seem, at first sight, no longer to coincide with the "christian religious ideal".”

WorldFirstsHumansSeemsChristianLastsCertainValuesTermReligiousResultsMoralCenturyElementsIdealsSightStressTendenciesMoral ValuesIncline
Book:The Divine Milieu
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“When we assume God to be a guiding principle well, sure enough, a god is usually characteristic of a certain system of thought or morality. For instance, take the Christian God, the summum bonum: God is love, love being the highest moral principle; and God is spirit, the spirit being the supreme idea of meaning. All our Christian moral concepts derive from such assumptions, and the supreme essence of all of them is what we call God.”

WellsIdeasEnoughChristianSpiritCertainLove IsMoralPrinciplesMoralityHighestConceptsEssenceAssumingSupremeInstanceCharacteristicsAssumptionGod Is LoveMoral PrinciplesGuiding PrinciplesChristian God
Author:Carl Jung
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“[The church] is in its major part an opponent still of progress and improvement in all the ways that diminish suffering in the world, because it has chosen to label as morality a certain narrow set of rules of conduct which have nothing to do with human happiness; and when you say that this or that ought to be done because it would make for human happiness, they think that has nothing to do with the matter at all. "What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy.”

PeopleThinkingWorldWayHumansStillsMatterDoneCertainSufferingChurchMoralProgressObjectsOughtMoralityMajorsImprovementChosenLabelsOpponentsDiminishMaking People HappyHuman Happiness
Book:Why I Am Not a Christian
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“When irrational terror takes to itself the fiat of moral goodness somebody has to die. ... No man lives who has not got a panic button, and when it is pressed by the clean white hand of moral duty, a certain murderous train is set in motion.”

MenHandsCertainDiesWhiteMoralDutyGoodnessTrainCleanTerrorPanicButtonsIrrationalMoral DutyMoral Goodness
Book:Collected Essays: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“It cannot be denied that Islam, regarded as an ethical ideal plus a certain kind of polity - by which expression I mean a social structure regulated by a legal system and animated by a specific ethical ideal - has been the chief formative factor in the life-history of the Muslims of India. It has furnished those basic emotions and loyalties which gradually unify scattered individuals and groups, and finally transform them into a well-defined people, possessing a moral consciousness of their own.”

PeopleWellsKindMeanHas BeensCertainIndividualSocialEmotionConsciousnessMoralGroupsExpressionIdealsIndiaStructureIslamLoyaltyFactorsDefinedChiefsPlusEthicalDeniedAnimatedPossessingLegal SystemSocial Structure
Book:Speeches, Writings, and Statements of Iqbal
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“It is paltry philosophy if in the old-fashioned way one lays down rules and principles in total disregard of moral values . As soon as these appear one regards them as exceptions, which gives them a certain scientific status, and thus makes them into rules. Or again one may appeal to genius , which is above all rules; which amounts to admitting that rules are not only made for idiots , but are idiotic in themselves.”

IfsWayGivingMayMadePhilosophyCertainValuesMoralPrinciplesAmountGeniusRegardLaysAppealsIdiotExceptionOld FashionedDisregardAdmittingIdioticMoral Values
Book:On War
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“I can have little patience with those who oppose ... the theory of evolution or what are called "mechanistic" explanations of the phenomena of life because of certain moral consequences which at first seem to follow from these theories, and still less with those who regard it as irrelevant or impious to ask certain questions at all. By refusing to face the facts , the conservative only weakens his own position.”

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Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
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“There may or may not be a Supreme Ruler of the universe-but we are certain that man exists, and we believe that freedom is the condition of progress; that it is the sunshine of the mental and moral world, and that without it man will go back to the den of savagery, and wll become the fit associate of wild and ferocious beasts.”

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Book:Miscellany
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“It goes with the passionate intensity and deep conviction of the truth of a religious belief, and of course of the importance of the superstitious observances that go with it, that we should want others to share it - and the only certain way to cause a religious belief to be held by everyone is to liquidate nonbelievers. The price in blood and tears that mankind generally has had to pay for the comfort and spiritual refreshment that religion has brought to a few has been too great to justify our entrusting moral accountancy to religious belief.”

WayWantShouldHas BeensSpiritualCertainCoursesBeliefCausesReligiousPayMoralBloodShareAtheismMankindTearsComfortImportancePassionateConvictionJustifyIntensityReligious BeliefSuperstitiousObservanceRefreshmentsEntrusting
Book:The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science
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“Natural good is' so intimately connected with moral good, and natural evil with moral evil, that I am as certain as if I heard a voice from heaven proclaim it, that God is on the side of virtue. He has learnt much, and has not lived in vain, who has practically discovered that most strict and necessary connection, that does and will ever exist between vice and misery, and virtue and happiness.”

IfsDoeCertainEvilHeavenSidesVoiceNaturalMoralVirtueHeardGoodnessConnectionsMiseryVicesConnectedVainStrictVirtue And HappinessMoral Evil
Book:Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
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“Although there is nothing so bad for conscience as trifling, there is nothing so good for conscience as trifles. Its certain discipline and development are related to the smallest things. Conscience, like gravitation, takes hold of atoms. Nothing is morally indifferent. Conscience must reign in manners as well as morals, in amusements as well as work. He only who is "faithful in that which is least" is dependable in all the world.”

WorldWellsCertainMoralDevelopmentDisciplineConscienceMannersFaithfulRelatedAtomsSmallestIndifferentReignAmusementTriflesTriflingDependableGravitation
Book:Thoughts for Every-day Living from the Spoken and Written Words of Maltbie Davenport Babcock
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“There is a certain period of the soul-culture when it begins to interfere with some of characters of typical beauty belonging to the bodily frame, the stirring of the intellect wearing down the flesh, and the moral enthusiasm burning its way out to heaven, through the emaciation of the earthen vessel; and there is, in this indication of subduing the mortal by the immortal part, an ideal glory of perhaps a purer and higher range than that of the more perfect material form. We conceive, I think, more nobly of the weak presence of Paul than of, the fair and ruddy countenance of David.”

ThinkingWaySoulCharacterFormCertainCultureHeavenPerfectBeautyMoralMaterialsHigherPeriodsGloryFairsIdealsWeakIntellectFleshEnthusiasmMortalsBurningRangeImmortalBelongingInterfereTypicalVesselIndicationStirringCountenance
Author:John Ruskin
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“The fight against syphilis demands a fight against prostitution, against prejudices, old habits, against previous conceptions, general views among them not least the false prudery of certain circles. The first prerequisite for even the moral right to combat these things is the facilitation of earlier marriage for the coming generation.”

FirstsCertainFightingReligiousViewsMoralGenerationsHabitDemandPrejudiceCirclesConceptionCombatProstitutionPrerequisitesMein KampfOld HabitsSyphilis
Book:Mein Kampf
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“When people commit themselves to a certain vision of reality, it becomes their ultimate explainer. It serves to interpret the universe for them, to guide their moral decisions, to give meaning and purpose to life, and all the other functions normally associated with a religion.”

PeopleGivingRealityPurposeCertainUniverseDecisionMoralVisionUltimateFunctionGuidesCommitMoral Decisions
Book:Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes
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“The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow J on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?”

IfsChildrenChristianCertainOrderNextQualityMoralWifeWrittenDoorsAtheismMaterialsDemandProgramJewPositive AtheismEndlessBunchDoctrineWhat IfYellowEstablishmentHelplessExposureConcealedRatingParadesZionistQuality Control
Book:Real Frank Zappa Book
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“A man needs no arguments to make him discern and approve what is beautiful: it strikes at first sight, and attracts without a reason. And as this beauty is found in the shape and form of corporeal things, so also is there analogous to it a beauty of another kind, an order, a symmetry, and comeliness in the moral world. And as the eye perceiveth the one, so the mind doth by a certain interior sense perceive the other, which sense, talent, or faculty, is ever quickest and purest in the noblest minds.”

MenWorldNeedsMindFirstsKindReasonEyeBeautifulFormCertainOrderFoundBeautyMoralTalentMoralityShapesPerceptionArgumentSightStrikesPerceiveFacultyInteriorsSymmetry
Book:Alciphron: Or, The Minute Philosopher. In Seven Dialogues Containing an Apology for the Christian Religion Against Those who are Called Free-thinkers
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“Style is, above all, a system of forms with a quality and a meaningful expression through which the personality of the artist andthe broad outlook of a group are visible,... communicating and fixing certain values of religious, social, and moral life through the emotional suggestiveness of forms. It is, besides, a common ground against which innovations and individuality of particular works may be measured.”

MayArtFormArtistCertainValuesSocialReligiousCommonQualityMoralGroupsStyleEmotionalParticularExpressionPersonalityInnovationIndividualityCommunicateMeaningfulVisibleBroadsOutlookAestheticsFixingCommon GroundMoral Life
Book:Theory and Philosophy of Art: Style, Artist, and Society
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“Every age and every nation has certain characteristic vices, which prevail almost universally, which scarcely any person scruples to avow, and which even rigid moralists but faintly censure. Succeeding generations change the fashion of their morals with the fashion of their hats and their coaches; take some other kind of wickedness under their patronage, and wonder at the depravity of their ancestors.”

KindPersonsAgeCertainNationsWonderMoralGenerationsFashionMoralitySucceedVicesCoachesCharacteristicsHatsAncestorWickednessDepravityCensureMoralistScruplesPatronage
Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
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“There is always a certain glamour about the idea of a nation rising up to crush an evil simply because it is wrong. Unfortunately, this can seldom be realized in real life; for the very existence of the evil usually argues a moral weakness in the very place where extraordinary moral strength is called for.”

IdeasRealCertainEvilNationsExistenceMoralWeaknessExtraordinaryArguingReal LifeCrushRisingBeing RealGlamourRising UpMoral Strength
Book:Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America: 1638-1870
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“Certain elements of today's ecological crisis reveal its moral character. First among these is the indiscriminate application of advances in science and technology. Many recent discoveries have brought undeniable benefits to humanity. Indeed, they demonstrate the nobility of the human vocation to participate responsibly in God's creative action in the world. Unfortunately, it is now clear that the application of these discoveries in the fields of industry and agriculture have produced harmful long-term effects.”

WorldFirstsHumansLongCharacterTodayActionCertainHumanityTermMoralTechnologyCreativeClearEffectsFieldsIndustryElementsBenefitsDiscoveryCrisisEnvironmentalLong TermApplicationSustainabilityAgricultureVocationNobilityEcologicalScience And TechnologyMoral CharacterAdvances In ScienceEcological Crisis
Author:Pope John Paul II
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“Their usual mistaken premise is that they affirm some consensus among people, at least among tame peoples, concerning certain moral principles, and then conclude that these principles must be unconditionally binding also for you and me-or conversely, they see that among different peoples moral valuations are necessarily different and infer from this that no morality is binding-both of which are equally childish.”

PeopleDifferentCertainMoralPrinciplesMoralityUsualMistakenConsensusDifferent PeoplesPremisesBindingMoral PrinciplesValuationMoral Absolutism
Book:Nietzsche: The Gay Science: With a Prelude in German Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
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“I know that I shall have lost to the jungle if I take a weak moral standpoint or relax my mental punctiliousness. I have therefore come to a certain belief which is based on three powerful effective commandments: THOU SHALT BE ENTERTAINING AT ALL TIMES. THOU SHALT OBEY THY ARTISTIC CONSCIENCE AT ALL TIMES. THOU SHALT MAKE EACH FILM AS IF IT WERE THY LAST.”

IfsKnowsLastsFilmCertainThreeBeliefLostPowerfulMoralConscienceWeakAll TimeArtisticRelaxEntertainingCommandmentsJungleStandpoint
Author:Ingmar Bergman
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“On moral grounds, I think that if you believe a certain outcome is a very possible outcome, you have an obligation to tell people that. With global warming, the probability of a bad outcome if we stay on our current emission trends is incredibly high. If you know a bad outcome is likely to happen, what right do you have not to communicate that? You go into a doctor's office, what are they going to do - not tell you the diagnosis?”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsBelieveHappensCertainMoralOfficeDoctorsCurrentsCommunicateObligationOutcomesGlobal WarmingTrendsProbabilityIf You BelieveDiagnosisEmissions
Author:Joseph J. Romm
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