Some readers may have noticed an icy little missive from Noam Chomsky [“Letters,” December 3], repudiating the very idea that he and I had disagreed on the “roots” of September 11. I rush to agree....

I imagine you come across a number of people who are disconcerted by the difference between what you do feel and what they fancy you ought to feel. It is fatal to pay the smallest...

How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?” Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the...

Ultimate prosperity is one’s value within. It takes a man of depth, morality, and charm to be envied yet without a sign of wealth or romance. A passion to prove such inner worth is his...

Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and...

Aki azzal dicsekszik, hogy sohasem változtatja meg a véleményét, az úgy tesz, mintha arra vállalkozna, hogy mindig nyílegyenes vonalban fog haladni. Együgyű az ilyen, hisz a csalhatatlanságban. Márpedig nincsenek elvek, csak események vannak; nincsenek törvények,...

Suppose you were the last one left? Suppose you did that to yourself?

You’re like a god from a Greek myth, Saiman. You have no empathy. You have no concept of the world beyond your ego. Wanting something gives you an automatic right to obtain it by whatever...

Morality covers our conduct, not what goes on inside our heads.

Miller believes, like many theists, that religion brings us beyond the bounds of materialism. (Ironically he insists on a material explanation [evolution] for our existence.) However, he fails to explain how religion does this. Will...

My Lady, you certainly tell me about wonderful constancy, strength and virtue and firmness of women, so can one say the same thing about men? (…)Response [by Lady Rectitude]: “Fair sweet friend, have you not...

We must remember that possession of physical beauty can easily weaken the moral faculty.

If religion is the cornerstone of morality, how come I so often find myself explaining why I don’t hate god to someone who’s expressed hatred for atheists, scientists, feminists, gays, intellectuals, and all other forms...

That is morality,I make myself imagine that it is personal.

I am an atheist and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people.

War doesn’t negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.” – Baba

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men’s badness, which is impossible.

Indeed, without emotion it seems unlikely we can even have morality.

It’s not doing what is right that’s hard for a President. It’s knowing what is right.

If we could only get rid of consciousness. What makes mankind tragic is not that they are the victims of nature, it is that they are conscious of it. To be part of the animal...

This concept of the afterlife really functions as a substitute for wisdom. It functions as a substitute for really absorbing our predicament, which is that everyone is going to die; there are circumstances that are...

If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me in prison, another person can take the debt upon himself, and pay it for me. But if I have...

Is psychiatry a medical enterprise concerned with treating diseases, or a humanistic enterprise concerned with helping persons with their personal problems? Psychiatry could be one or the other, but it cannot–despite the pretensions and protestations...

Our goals can only be achieved with a society that respects and equally protects the rights of every human being, old and young, rich and poor, regardless of gender, color, race, or creed. We must...

The only thing that restrains you is fear, Anton Gorodetsky. For yourself, or for people—that’s not important. But we are restrained by horror. And that is why we observe the Treaty.

….I came to consider betrayal a moral violation of another’s humanity—akin to torture.

Do unto others…’ is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is – a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue....

Few people can present a completely secular argument detailing why abusing toddlers is objectively wrong. But that hardly stops them from recognizing this moral truth even if they can’t articulate their reasons in strictly secular...

If something is wrong, it matters not if a thousand men are for it; you must still oppose it. If something is just, no amount of popular outcry should stay you from your course.

There were a lot of things he could say. “Son of a bitch!” would have been a good one. Or he could say, “Welcome to civilization!” He could have said, “Laugh this one off!” He...

He who joyfully marches to music rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to...

Mēs visi esam tik vienādi, bet savā būtībā tik dažādi. Manos gados varbūt tā domāt ir naivi? Bērnišķīgi? Sentimentāli? Varbūt esmu morālists? Un kas tur ļauns? Manā darbā un manā vecumā nemaz nevar iztikt bez...

This is my real bed-rock objection to the eastern systems. They decry all manly virtue as dangerous and wicked, and they look upon Nature as evil. True enough, everything is evil relatively to Adonai; for...

Intuition is an institution of inspiration and to have it in life, all a person requires to do is an introspection with a tinge of the right imagination.

Morality is a subject to meddle in the affairs of other persons, guided by our preferences and convenience.

Moral maxims are surprisingly useful on occasions when we can invent little else to justify our actions.

I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,” “C” and “D.”...

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with telling the truth. I know it isn’t fashionable.

Gratitude is not a virtue I believe in, and to me it seems hypocritical to expect it from a child.

I have argued elsewhere (Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence [2005]) that we need to treat ethics in biblical texts just as we treat ethics in any other works of ancient literature. It is...

To me, science is an expression of the human spirit, which reaches every sphere of human culture. It gives an aim and meaning to existence as well as a knowledge, understanding, love, and admiration for...

Right isn’t always legal.

I have come to the conclusion that none of us in our generation feels as guilty about sin as we should or as our forefathers did.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

One of the greatest of human follies is that we think we know ourselves so well, that we know how we would act under any conditions, that we would under any circumstance ‘do the right...

Hollywood-Nobody’s impressed by anybody because they’re all too consumed with trying to cover up their own shortcomings. Hollywood is a microcosm of a world of lazy moral ideals and social indifference where every man is...

Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself.

Every day we make our way through a moral forest, along pathways ever branching. Often we get lost.When the array of paths before us is so perplexing that we can’t make a choice, or won’t,...

I’d forgotten it’s an important thing to give thought to your morality and how you intend to live your life.

Morality is simply a device for leading people around by the nose.