It is not what a man is capable of doing, but what he chooses to do that is important.

All attempts at law, all religion, all ethical norms might be nothing more than attempts by the weak to restrain the strong. Then, within the law, arise the new strong, who subvert the law for...

To my way of thinking, the slavery issue is just an excuse to allow some people to do hateful things and feel righteous about it.

Morals are nothing but a civilized society’s attempt to tame some beast called man.

The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, “I was wrong.

The story itself should force its moral upon you. You find out what the moral is by writing the story.

You believe stealing is wrong, but if your family was starving and could not afford bread, wouldn’t you say it’s okay to steal a loaf to feed them?

My morals are important to me.

The critics greeted this book with a churlish and horrified outcry. Certain virtuous people, in newspapers no less virtuous, made a grimace of disgust as they picked it up with the tongs to throw it...

So far, about morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

The answer is that there is no good answer. So as parents, as doctors, as judges, and as a society, we fumble through and make decisions that allow us to sleep at night–because morals are...

[…] like any human practices, those of religions are not exempt from ethical questioning. Rituals and rites in groups change behavior, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. For the madness of crowds is...

All around the Mediterranean you’ll find cultures that believe men can’t control themselves and shouldn’t have to try.

Some people have morals, standards and ideals about quality, but I’m an American: I couldn’t care less.

Creation and destruction are the two ends of the same moment. And everything between the creation and the next destruction is the journey of life.

Immorality sanctified by tradition is still immorality.

Compromise, while at times morally necessary or at least justifiable, is more often only the first permission for a person (or society) to begin a long downhill descent.

Everybody wants to be part of a success story, But no one want to be the writer of this story.

But even if they could go home it would be difficult for me to tell you what the moral of the story is. In some stories, it’s easy. The moral of ‘The Three Bears’, for...

God could learn a little about love and morality from us. If there’s anyone who needs redemption, it’s God.

Truth has nothing to do with the conclusion, and everything to do with the methodology.

The sad reality of Mankind: Faith is the currency people trade in, through their ego and selfish ways.

A decent life, even a short life, will always be far better than an exceptionally long life lived in ruin.

What I should do and what I want to do are two opposing forces. I have no idea which way I am going to end up.

In business ‘professionalism’ is not a tactic but a moral value.

… what you think is right isn’t the same as knowing what is right.

When law becomes despotic, morals are relaxed, and vice versa.

There can be as many wrong reasons to do the right thing as there are stars in the sky. There might even be more than one legitimate right reason. But there is never a right...

The best morals kids get from any book is just the capacity to empathize with other people, to care about the characters and their feelings. So you don’t have to write a preachy book to...

I value ethical standards, of course. But in a culture like ours – which devalues or dismisses the reality and power of the inner life – ethics too often becomes an external code of conduct,...

Innocence could be lost more than once after all.

Survival,” I said softly. “It’s selfish, and it’s dark, and we’ve always been a species willing to do anything to satisfy our needs. Individuals have morals. Mobs have appetites.

It is important to refuse to be intimidated. That refusal must not be based simply on a calculation of the odds of succeeding. At times, in my case, multiple lawsuits and an ethics charge seemed...

You must always focus on and pursue the good, but when that darkness surges up from within, you need to know how to handle it, use it, and release it wisely, not just deny its...

My dear Prue, we are the inheritors of a wonderful world, a beautiful world, full of life and mystery, goodness and pain. But likewise are we children of an indifferent universe. We break our own...

Buddha wrote a code which he said would be useful to guide men in darkness, but he never claimed to be the Light of the world. Buddhism was born with a disgust for the world,...

I have raised the morals and sobriety of the people.

Charles is going to be fine,” said Annie. “Yep,” said Jack with a smile. “He never even knew that it was us who helped him.” “That’s the best way to help someone, I think,” said...

How wonderful it would be if people did all they could for one other without seeking anything in return! One should never remember a kindness done, and never forget a kindness received.

for that men have been good does not suffice for them to continue being good, unless one cares about it to the end.

People need a moral code, to help them make decisions. All this bio-yogurt virtue and financial self-righteousness are just filling the gap in the market. But the problem is that it’s all backwards. It’s not...

Often,our immediate reaction to a sudden crisis help us save ourselves. Our response to gradual crises that creep up upon us, on the other hand,may be so adaptive as to ultimately lead to self-destruction.

Work hard, do your best, live the truth, trust yourself, have some fun…and you’ll have no regrets.

It was always the view of my parents,” Emily said, “that hot weather encouraged loose morals among young people.

{We} have not to crown the exceptional man who knows he can rule; rather we must crown the much more exceptional man who knows he can’t.

You know the world has gone mad when those who have enlightened, compassionate views and future visions, are accused of borderline insanity, ridiculed and criticised for thinking positively.

Not that I haven’t leaped up into the blinding light of competence now and then. It’s sustaining the altitude that defeats me.

My ‘morals’ were sound, even a bit puritanic, but when a hidebound old deacon inveighed against dancing I rebelled. By the time of graduation I was still a ‘believer’ in orthodox religion, but had strong...

Intellectuals are judged not by their morals, but by the quality of their ideas, which are rarely reducible to simple verdicts of truth or falsity, if only because banalities are by definition accurate.

We do the right things at the wrong time because we think we are doing the right thing and the wrong things at the wrong times simply because we want to.