Moral Indignation Quotes

• There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as moral indignation, which permits envy or to be acted out under the guise of virtue.

  Erich Fromm

  Spiritual, Envy, Feelings

  Erich Fromm (2013). “Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics”, p.235, Routledge

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• Moral indignation is one of the most harmful forces in the modern world, the more so as it can always be diverted to sinister uses by those who control propaganda.

  Bertrand Russell

  Use, World, Moral

  Bertrand Russell (1960). “Sceptical Essays”

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  One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.

  Simone de Beauvoir

  Love, Life, Kindness

  Simone de Beauvoir (1975). “The Coming of Age”

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• Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.

  H. G. Wells

  Jealousy, Witty, Humorous

  The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914) ch. 9, sect. 2

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• Moral indignation in most cases is, 2% moral, 48% indignation, and 50% envy.

  Vittorio De Sica

  Funny, Envy, Moral

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• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Happiness, Peace

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.270

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• Only let the North exert as much moral influence over the South, as the South has exerted demoralizing influence over the North, and slavery would die amid the flame of Christian remonstrance, and faithful rebuke, and holy indignation

  Angelina Grimke

  Christian, Flames, Faithful

  Sarah Grimke, Angelina Grimke (2015). “On Slavery and Abolitionism: Essays and Letters”, p.155, Penguin

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• In its sentimental mode, compassion is an exercise in moral indignation, in feeling good rather than doing good ... In its unsentimental mode, compassion seeks above all to do good.

  Gertrude Himmelfarb

  Exercise, Compassion, Feel Good

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• What I admire most in any man is a serene spirit, a steady freedom from moral indignation, and all-embracing tolerance--in brief,what is commonly called sportsmanship.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Men, Tolerance

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.163, Vintage

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• moral indignation is a pleasure, often the only pleasure, in many lives. It's also one of the few pleasures people feel obliged to force on other people.

  Barbara Holland

  People, Morality, Pleasure

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• Envy has always hidden behind moral indignation.

  Doris Lessing

  Envy, Moral, Behinds

  Doris May Lessing (1997). “Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949-1962”

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• Moral indignation is a technique used to endow the idiot with dignity.

  Marshall McLuhan

  Technique, Moral, Dignity

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• No, I make no pretension to patriotism. So long as my voice can be heard on this or the other side of the Atlantic, I will hold up America to the lightning scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.

  Frederick Douglass

  Country, Voice, America

  Speech at Market Hall, New York, N.Y., 22 Oct. 1847

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• Camp is a solvent of morality. It neutralizes moral indignation, sponsors playfulness.

  Susan Sontag

  Morality, Sponsors, Playfulness

  Susan Sontag (2014). “A Susan Sontag Reader”, p.177, Macmillan

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• In a fashion similar to the leftist occupiers on Wall Street, their antics would be the target of rabid moral indignation on the front pages of the New York times and Washington Post and on the lead stories of every cable news show.

  Jamie Glazov

  Fashion, New York, Wall

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• The Statist veils his pursuits in moral indignation, intoning in high dudgeon the injustices and inequities of liberty and life itself, for which only he can provide justice and bring a righteous resolution.

  Mark Levin

  Justice, Liberty, Veils

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• It has been said that the historian is the avenger, and that standing as a judge between the parties and rivalries and causes of bygone generations he can lift up the fallen and beat down the proud, and by his exposures and his verdicts, his satire and his moral indignation, can punish unrighteousness, avenge the injured or reward the innocent.

  Herbert Butterfield

  Party, Judging, Rewards

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• The vehemence of my moral indignation surprised me. Was I beginning to have standards and principles, and, oh dear, scruples? What were they, and what would I do with them, and how much were they going to get in my way?

  Elaine Dundy

  Principles, Vehemence, Way

  Elaine Dundy (2010). “The Dud Avocado”, p.80, New York Review of Books

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• They look for a victim to chivy, and howl him down, and finally lynch him in a sheer storm of sexual frenzy which they honestly imagine to be moral indignation, patriotic passion or some equally allowable emotion, it may be an innocent Negro, a Jew like Leo Frank, a harmless half-witted German; a Christ-like idealist of the type of Debs, an enthusiastic reformer like Emma Goldman.

  Aleister Crowley

  Passion, Patriotic, Storm

  "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley". Book by Aleister Crowley. Chapter 57, 1969.

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• From Britain's point of view the 1939 war had been a liberal war which had been entered into in a condition of moral indignation without the resources to fight it, that it had been providential good fortune which had placed the burden of fighting on the Russians and the Americans.

  Maurice Cowling

  War, Fighting, Views

  Maurice Cowling (1990). “Mill and Liberalism”, p.15, Cambridge University Press

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• I've met so many people, often the scum of the earth, and found them, you know, quite decent. I am an uncomfortable stranger to moral indignation.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Scum Of The Earth, People, Moral

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