Morality Quotes - Page 20

• A novel that does not uncover a hitherto unknown segment of existence is immoral. Knowledge is the novel's only morality.

  Milan Kundera

  Doe, Ethics, Existence

  New York Review of Books, July 19, 1984.

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• The true artist doesn't substitute immorality for morality. On the contrary, he always substitutes a finer morality for a grosser one.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Artist, Literature, Substitutes

  D. H. Lawrence, Bruce Steele (1985). “Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays”, p.167, Cambridge University Press

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• It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

  Albert Einstein

  Death, Religious, Atheist

  "Religion and Science", New York Times Magazine, November 9, 1930.

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• Whenever governments adopt a moral tone - as opposed to an ethical one - you know something is wrong.

  John Ralston Saul

  Government, Tone, Ethical

  John Ralston Saul (2012). “The Unconscious Civilization”, p.108, Simon and Schuster

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• And they drank heavily, partied with great enthusiasm, and relished the drug culture; they moved in and out and slept around, and this was okay because they defined their own morality. They were fighting for the Mexicans and the redwoods, dammit! They had to be good people!

  John Grisham

  Fighting, People, Drug

  John Grisham (2000). “The Brethren”, Doubleday Books

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• One of them is knowing the difference between Morality and Wisdom. Morality is temporary, Wisdom is permanent… Ho ho. Take that one to bed with you tonight.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Differences, Knowing, Bed

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the F”, p.8, Simon and Schuster

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• I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born, in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the dissuadinig arguments of my best friends.

  Charles Dickens

  Funny, Humorous, Expectations

  1860-1 Pip. Great Expectations, ch.4.

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• To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Orthodoxy, Action, Vengeance

  "A short history of England". Book by Gilbert K. Chesterton, 1917.

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• You don't read Gatsby, I said, to learn whether adultery is good or bad but to learn about how complicated issues such as adultery and fidelity and marriage are. A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil.

  Azar Nafisi

  Self, Issues, Evil

  Azar Nafisi (2003). “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books”, p.133, Random House

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• Young people are moving away from feeling guilty about sleeping with somebody to feeling guilty if they are *not* sleeping with someone.

  Margaret Mead

  Sex, Moving, Sleep

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• Fundamental accuracy of statement is the ONE sole morality of writing.

  Ezra Pound

  Writing, Fundamentals, Crafts

  Ezra Pound, Forrest Read (1967). “Pound/Joyce; the Letters of Ezra Pound to James Joyce: With Pound's Essays on Joyce”, p.249, New Directions Publishing

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• Never presume yours is a better morality.

  Graham Greene

  Graham Greene (1996). “Travels with My Aunt”, p.39, Oberon Books

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• Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Responsibility, Men

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.410, Penguin

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• To pretend that civilization can exist without destroying its own landbase and the landbases and cultures of others is to be entirely ignorant of history, biology, thermodynamics, morality, and self-preservation.

  Derrick Jensen

  Self, Civilization, Ignorant

  Derrick Jensen (2006). “Endgame”, p.149, Seven Stories Press

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• "This - is now my way - where is yours"? Thus did I answer those who asked me "the way". For the way - it does not exist!

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Independent, Doe, Answers

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2017). “Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, Hellenism & Pessimism – 3 Unbeatable Philosophy Books in One Volume: The Birth of Tragedy”, p.320, e-artnow

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• There never was a strong character that was not made strong by discipline of the will; there never was a strong people that did not rank subordination and discipline among the signal virtues. Subjection to moods is the mark of a deteriorating morality. There is no baser servitude than that of the man whose caprices are his masters, and a nation composed of such men could not long preserve its liberties.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Strong, Character, Men

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• The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques (the Personality Ethic) rather than from our own inner core (the Character Ethic), others will sense that duplicity. We simply won't be able to create and sustain the foundation necessary for effective interdependence.

  Stephen Covey

  Life, Relationship, Change

  Stephen R. Covey (1994). “Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day”, p.208, Simon and Schuster

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• Civilization is first of all a moral thing. Without truth, respect for duty, love of neighbor, and virtue, everything is destroyed. The morality of a society is alone the basis of civilization.

  Henri Frederic Amiel

  Character, Civilization, Firsts

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• We now possess four principles of morality: 1) a philosophical: do good for its own sake, out of respect for the law; 2) a religious: do good because it is God's will, out of love of God; 3) a human: do good because it will promote your happiness, out of self-love; 4) a political: do good because it will promote the welfare of the society of which you are a part, out of love of society having regard to yourself. But is this not all one single principle, only viewed from different sides?

  Georg C. Lichtenberg

  Religious, Philosophical, Character

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• Looking to future generations, there is no cause to fear that the social instincts will grow weaker... the social instincts, - the prime principle of man's moral constitution - with the aid of active intellectual powers and the effects of habit, naturally lead to the golden rule, "As ye would that men should do to you; do ye to them likewise"; and this lies at the foundation of morality.

  Charles Darwin

  Lying, Men, Intellectual

  "The Descent of Man". Book by Charles Darwin, part I, chap. IV, 1871.

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• According to Gandhi, the seven sins are wealth without works, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle. Well, Hubert Humphrey may have sinned in the eyes of God, as we all do, but according to those definitions of Gandhi's, it was Hubert Humphrey without sin.

  Jimmy Carter

  Hard Work, Knowledge, Character

  United States. President (1977-1981 : Carter), Jimmy Carter (1978). “Jimmy Carter”

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• It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have enough good men to curse them.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Men, Catholic, Good Man

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• The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Catholic, Half, Vices

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• Truth is sacred; and if you tell the truth too often nobody will believe it.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Believe, Sacred, Telling The Truth

  In the Illustrated London News, 24 February 1906.

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• Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Running, Men, Thinking

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