Quotes about Ethics

The greatest crimes are not those committed for the sake of necessity but those committed for the sake of superfluity. One does not become a tyrant to avoid exposure to the cold.

Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.

We become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage.

The man who does not enjoy doing noble actions is not a good man at all.

it is all wrong that a person who is going to be deemed worthy of the office should himself solicit it... for no one who is not ambitious would ask to hold office.

Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.

Man's work as Man is accomplished by virtue of Practical Wisdom and Moral Virtue, the latter giving the right aim and direction, the former the right means to its attainment;

Hence while in respect of its substance and the definition that states what it really is in essence virtue is the observance of the mean, in point of excellence and rightness it is an extreme.

There is no such thing as observing a mean in excess or deficiency, nor as exceeding or falling short in observance of a mean.

There is one end we all have — not in virtue of being rational, but simply in virtue of being human being — and that is happiness.

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

By the way, a question is sometimes raised, whether the moral choice or the actions have most to do with Virtue, since it consists in both: it is plain that the perfection of virtuous action requires both: but for the actions many things are required, and the greater and more numerous they are the more.