Moral Action Quotes

• But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.

  C. S. Lewis

  Reading, Eye, Night

  C. S. Lewis (2012). “An Experiment in Criticism”, p.141, Cambridge University Press

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• To engage in civil disobedience is to feel the abundance of courage, the gratitude for a democracy that still invites us to speak from our hearts, to act from our conscience and have faith in the consequences of moral action. Abundance is a form of consciousness.

  Terry Tempest Williams

  Gratitude, Heart, Democracy

  "Exclusive: Terry Tempest Williams On Sacred Rage, Abundance, and the Upcoming White House Tar Sands Pipeline Action". Interview with Jerry Cope, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 17, 2011.

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• Do you suppose that sacrifice is the hallmark of moral action?--Just stop to consider whether sacrifice is not involved in every action that is done with deliberation, the worst as well as the best.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Sacrifice, Done, Morality

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• Empathy makes you more aware of other people's suffering, but it's not clear it actually motivates you to take moral action or prevents you from taking immoral action.

  David Brooks

  Wisdom, People, Empathy

  FaceBook post by David Brooks from Sep 30, 2011

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• If an action must be taken that will benefit the majority at the cost of the minority, is it morally indefensible? If an action taken for the benefit of a majority occurs at the expense of a minority, is it moral action?

  Garth Nix

  Taken, Majority, Minorities

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• For memory is a moral action, a choice. You can choose to remember. You can choose not.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Memories, Remember You, Remembers You

  Joyce Carol Oates (2009). “I Am No One You Know: And Other Stories”, p.224, Zondervan

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• The dimension of depth in the consciousness of religion creates the tension between what is and what ought to be. It bends the bow from which every arrow of moral action flies.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Arrows, Religion, Depth

  Reinhold Niebuhr (2012). “An Interpretation of Christian Ethics”, p.8, Westminster John Knox Press

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• [Action's] a Western thing. We think of the hero going into battle, rebelling against a government or an oppressor, but [in KUNDUN] action is nonaction or what appears to be nonaction. That's a hard concept for Western audiences. . . . We wanted to show a kind of moral action, a spiritual action, an emotional action. Some people will pick up on it; some won't.

  Martin Scorsese

  Spiritual, Hero, Emotional

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• Literary Experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege of individuality.. .Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.

  C. S. Lewis

  Knowing, Individuality, Privilege

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• There ought not be two histories, one of political and moral action and one of political and moral theorizing, because there were not two pasts, one populated only by actions, the other only by theories. Every action is the bearer and expression of more or less theory-laden beliefs and concepts; every piece of theorizing and every expression of belief is a politcal and moral action.

  Alasdair MacIntyre

  Past, Expression, Two

  Alasdair MacIntyre (2013). “After Virtue”, p.72, A&C Black

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• Name one moral action performed by a believer that could not have been done by a nonbeliever.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Names, Done, Action

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• I am suggesting that we can and do regain eternity when we are so immersed in life, in moral action, or in aesthetic contemplation, that we completely forget about time and anxiety.

  Don Cupitt

  Anxiety, Action, Moral

  Don Cupitt (2010). “Theology's Strange Return”, p.5, Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd

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• If we are not inwardly wrought upon, and changed by the powerful operations of the Holy Spirit, and our moral actions proceed from a principle of a new nature, however we may call ourselves Christians, we shall be found naked at the great day.

  George Whitefield

  Christian, Powerful, Great Day

  George Whitefield (1828). “Sermons on important subjects ... With a memoir of the Author by S. Drew; and a dissertation on his character, preaching, etc., by Joseph [or rather Josiah] Smith”, p.550

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• Unless the will is free, man has no freedom; and if he has no freedom he is not a moral agent, that is, he is incapable of moral action and also of moral character.

  Charles Grandison Finney

  Character, Men, Agents

  Charles Grandison Finney, George REDFORD (D.D.) (1851). “Lectures on systematic theology, embracing moral government, the atonement, etc. Revised, enlarged, and partly re-written by the Author ... Edited ... by G. Redford”, p.29

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• Good moral actions are not enough. Everything in us, from the very depths, must be cleansed and reordered.

  Thomas Merton

  Spiritual, Depth, Action

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• I'm not a pacifist. I think the suffering of innocent people can be a catalyst for moral action. But empathy puts too much weight on the scale in favor of war. Empathy can really lead to violence.

  Paul Bloom

  War, Thinking, People

  "Paul Bloom: The Trouble With Empathy". Interview with Allyson Kirkpatrick, www.guernicamag.com. February 1, 2016.

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