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Morality Quotes

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Morality Quotes

“Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice-and the alternative his nature offers him is: rational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man-by choice; he has to hold his life as a value-by choice; he has to learn to sustain it-by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues-by choice. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality.”

Men Has Beens Matter Values Choices Animal Practice Virtue Morality Offers Accepted Rational Alternatives Code Rationality Suicidal

Author:John Galt

“I have found little that is 'good' about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all. That is something that you cannot say aloud, or perhaps even think.”

Thinking Humans Littles Matter Whole Found Human Beings Atheism Morality Ethics Experience Doctrine Ethical Trash Psychoanalysis Agnosticism

Author:Sigmund Freud

“I don't apologize for my behavior anymore. Whatever I do or don't do shouldn't matter. Moral certainty is dangerous. Moral certainty is what makes people go to war unnecessarily and illegally. Morality, as any halfway intelligent human being would tell you, is a very subjective thing.”

People Humans War Matter Human Beings Moral Dangerous Morality Behavior Intelligent Certainty Apologizing Subjective Halfway

Author:Steve Coogan

“[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.”

Source: Why I Am Not a Christian

“Chomsky proceeds on the almost unthinkably subversive assumption that the United States should be judged by the same standards that it preaches (often at gunpoint) to other nations he is nearly the only person now writing who assumes a single standard of international morality not for rhetorical effect, but as a matter of habitual, practically instinctual conviction.”

Source: For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

“If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven.”

Ifs Knows Believe Wells Book Matter Christian Religion Heaven Opinion Fields Morality Eternal Foolish Kingdoms Resurrection Mistaken Maintaining Eternal Life Kingdom Of Heaven

Book:Genesi Ad Litteram

Source: Genesi Ad Litteram

“The more we study mind and matter scientifically the more we see that all things follow a natural sequence, a sequence as liable to work for our disadvantage as for our advantage. It flows like the water of a river, it falls like rain, it is as impartial as the sea. It is as innocent of malice as it is of compassion.”

Source: Llewelyn Powys: A Selection from His Writings

“Morals are a matter of private agreement; decency is of public concern.”

Matter Moral Morality Concern Agreement Decency

Book:Hadrian's Memoirs

Source: Hadrian's Memoirs

“Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that morality is not just a matter of opinion.”

Believe Matter I Believe Opinion Morality Call Me Old Fashioned

Author:Brian Dennehy

“You are all alike, you respectable people. You can't tell me the bursting strain of a ten-inch gun, which is a very simple matter;but you all think you can tell me the bursting strain of a man under temptation. You daren't handle high explosives; but you're all ready to handle honesty and truth and justice and the whole duty of man, and kill one another at that game. What a country! What a world!”

Source: The Collected Plays of George Bernard Shaw (Illustrated): Including Renowned Titles like Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, The Inca Of Perusalem, Macbeth Skit, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion

“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”

Matter Choices Fiction Subjects Morality Narrative Novelists Plot Subject Matter Bewildered

Book:Outlander

Source: Outlander

“The main thesis of mind-physics holds that consciousness and matter are both manifestations of a more primary entity, and that the processes of manifestation exhibit equivalent invariances for both consciousness and matter. When the program for mind-physics is complete the subject-object dichotomy of modal logic, the polarity of concept-percept, and the antagonism between morality and technology will all come to an end. Then the non-repeatable experiment will be understood to be more primary than the traditional repeatable experiment.”

“If a novel reveals true and vivid relationships, it is a moral work, no matter what the relationships consist in. If the novelisthonours the relationship in itself, it will be a great novel.”

Ifs Matter Literature Moral Novel Morality No Matter What Vivid Great Novels

Book:Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays

Source: Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays

“It has become an article of the creed of modern morality that all labour is good in itself -- a convenient belief to those who live on the labour of others. But as to those on whom they live, I recommend them not to take it on trust, but to look into the matter a little deeper.”

Looks Littles Matter Belief Work Modern Morality Deeper Labour Articles Creeds Convenient

Book:Delphi Complete Works of William Morris (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of William Morris (Illustrated)

“Taking care of our planet is like taking care of our houses. Since we human beings come from Nature, there is no point in our going against nature, which is why I say the environment is not a matter of religion or ethics or morality. These are luxuries, since we can survive without them. But we will not survive if we continue to go against nature.”

Ifs Humans Matter Care House Human Beings Environment Planets Morality Ethics Luxury Our Planet No Point

Author:Dalai Lama

“In general, in America, every discourse in literature in 15 minutes degenerates into a conversation about ethics, morality and this and that. The Holocaust and the consequences of it. Well, I find it terribly boring, predictable and unimportant, because what matters about literature is esthetic achievement.”

Wells Matter America Literature Minutes Morality Conversation Achievement Ethics Consequence Boring Holocaust What Matters Discourse Predictable Unimportant Degenerates

Author:Joseph Brodsky

“Why I can't stand this phrase about I don't have any permanent enemies, any permanent friends, only permanent interests. I can't stand that. It's a matter of principles. What kind of integrity, what kind of morality do you have?”

Kind I Can Matter Interest Enemy Principles Morality Integrity Permanent Phrases

Author:Cornel West

“It's an individual morality in values that matters in these companies [like Wells Fargo]. I mean, they ought to clean house. And they ought to figure out how to claw back all this money. That is a given. In terms of additional laws, there are reasonable approaches to this, but I'd have to see what they are. I'm not a federal lawmaker.”

Wells Mean Matter Law Values House Individual Given Term Company Figures Ought Morality Approach Clean Reasonable Claws Lawmakers Clean House Fargo Individual Morality Wells Fargo

Author:John Kasich

“First all men must be able to become men by the improvement of their conditions of existence, so that a universal morality can be created. If I begin by saying to them: "Thou shalt not lie," there is no longer any possibility of political action. What matters first is the liberation of man.”

Ifs Men Firsts Matter Able Action Political Lying Existence Conditions Possibility Morality Universal Improvement Liberation What Matters Political Action

Author:Jean-Paul Sartre

“According to "matter-ism," matter is all that exists. The only things that are real are physical things in motion governed by natural law. That story starts, "In the beginning were the particles," or, as one famous person put it, "The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be." No God. No souls. No Heaven or Hell. No miracles. No transcendent morality. Just molecules in motion following the patterns of natural law. This is the story that most atheists, most "skeptics," most humanists, and most Marxists believe is true.”

“In matter-ism (materialism), there can be nothing wrong with the world since there is no right way for the world to be in the first place. Everything is just matter in motion and that's that. In Mind-ism (monism) there's a different route to the same problem. There cannot be a problem of evil, even in principle, since in Mind-ism even morality is maya; illusion. In neither story, then (if we're to be consistent with their principles), can the issue of evil be raised. But in real life the problem comes up all the time. That's the difficulty.”

“There's such cultural rot taking place, such a disintegration throughout our culture. Values, morality, you name it. Standards have been relaxed, and people are not being held to them. People's intentions, if they're said to be good and honorable, that's all that matters.”

People Ifs Has Beens Said Matter Values Culture Names Morality Standards Intention Be Good Honorable Relaxed Disintegration

Author:Rush Limbaugh

“Rights are not a matter of numbers - and there can be no such thing, in law or in morality, as actions forbidden to an individual, but permitted to a mob.”

Matter Action Law Individual Numbers Rights Morality Forbidden In-laws

Book:Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Source: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

“Curiosity and irreverence go together. Curiosity cannot exist without the other. Curiosity asks, "Is this true?" "Just because this has always been the way, is the best or right way of life, the best or right religion, political or economic value, morality?" To the questioner, nothing is sacred. He detests dogma, defies any finite definition of morality, rebels against any repression of a free, open search of ideas no matter where they may lead. He is challenging, insulting, agitating, discrediting. He stirs unrest.”

“A postcard. Neat handwriting fills the rectangle. Half my days I cannot bear to touch you. The rest of my time I feel like it doesn’t matter if I will ever see you again. It isn’t the morality, it’s how much you can bear. No date. No name attached.”

Ifs Feels Matter Names Half Bears Morality My Time Neat You Again Handwriting Postcards Rectangles

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“No matter what the circumstances. I am more like most men in this regard. No second chances. It's not so much about morality, but about my inability to forgive. I'm a champion grudge holder, and I don't think I could change this about myself even if I wanted to.”

Ifs Thinking Men Matter Wanted Chance Circumstances Morality Regard No Matter What Forgiving Champion Inability Second Chance Grudge No Second Chances

Book:Baby Proof

Source: Baby Proof

“Morality is a matter of money. Poor people cannot afford to have morals. So they have religion.”

People Matter Poor Moral Morality Conscience Poor People

Book:Train to Pakistan

Source: Train to Pakistan

“Genuine politics -- even politics worthy of the name -- the only politics I am willing to devote myself to -- is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole.”

Matter Whole Action Names Peace Community Responsibility Moral Willing Morality Roots Worthy Genuine Serving Serving Others Moral Duty Rights And Responsibilities Serving The Community

Author:Vaclav Havel

“Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.”

Matter Motivational Religion Atheism Morality No Matter What Morality And Religion

Author:H. L. Mencken

“In every age he had ever studied, doomsayers abounded. No millennium is attractive to the man immured in it; enough prophecies have been made in antiquity that one who desires, in any age, to take the position that apocalypse is at hand can easily defend it. He would not join that dour order; he would not worry about anything but Tempus, and the matter awaiting his attention.”

Men Has Beens Made Matter Enough Hands Age Desire Order Attention Worry Fate Position He Man Morality Attractive Prophecy Apocalypse Antiquity Millennium

Book:Tempus with His Right-Side Companion Niko

Source: Tempus with His Right-Side Companion Niko

“When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values and with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God.”

Matter God Values Moral Tree Feet Morality Ethics Experience Fishing Sarcastic Hunting Life Experience Hunters Funny But True Moral Values Funny Sarcastic

Author:Fred Bear

“Man can learn self-discipline without becoming ascetic; he can be wise without waiting to be old; he can be influential without waiting for status. Man can sharpen his ability to distinguish between matters of principle and matters of preference, but only if we have a wise interplay between time and truth, between minutes and morality.”

Ifs Men Self Matter Time Waiting Ability Principles Learning Wise Minutes Becoming Discipline Morality Truth Is Self Discipline Preference Influential Being Wise

Author:Neal A. Maxwell

“And there is the matter of abortion. We must with calmness and resolve help the vast majority of our fellow Americans understand that the more than 112 million abortions performed in America in 1980 amount to a great moral evil, an assault on the sacredness of human life.”

Humans Matter Helping America Religion Evil Moral Millions Amount Morality Fellows Majority Human Life Abortion Resolve Assault Calmness Sacredness Moral Evil

Author:Ronald Reagan

“No matter how worthy the cause, it is robbery, theft, and injustice to confiscate the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong.”

Giving Persons Doe Matter Religion Causes Liberty Poverty Morality Property Injustice Conservative Worthy Welfare Theft Robbery

Author:Walter E. Williams

“All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative as the giving of alms, intellect and morality, consistency and principles are miserably inadequate.”

Giving Matter Time Principles Morality Holy Prove Intellect Consistency Honored Beggar Inadequate Alms

Author:Walter Benjamin

“Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.”

Source: Thomas Jefferson: His Words and Vision

“Productiveness is your acceptance of morality, your recognition of the fact that you choose to live-that productive work is the process by which man's consciousness controls his existence, a constant process of acquiring knowledge and shaping matter to fit one's purpose, of translating an idea into physical form, of remaking the earth in the image of one's values-that all work is creative work if done by a thinking mind.”

Source: For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)

“Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice... Man has to be a man-by choice; he has to hold his life as a value-by choice; he has to learn to sustain it-by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues by choice. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality.”

Men Has Beens Matter Values Choices Practice Virtue Morality Accepted Rational Code Rationality Be A Man

Book:Philosophy: Who Needs It

Source: Philosophy: Who Needs It