Quotes about Ethics

Every man of character will have that character questioned. Every man of honor and courage will be faced with unjust criticism, but never forget that unjust criticism has no impact whatsoever upon the truth. And the only sure way to avoid criticism is to do nothing and be nothing.

Does adversity build character? . . . It does not. Almost all people can stand adversity of one sort or another. If you want to test a person's character, give him power.

If you want to become a person that others want to be around, you must always hold your life to the very highest standard.

You don't sit around looking for reasons to do the right thing; it's the bad decisions that require creative reasoning.

Your talent and giftedness as a leader have the potential to take you farther than your character can sustain you. That ought to scare you.

Do you know why people are prone to make such foolish moral decisions? Because something always whispers to us that our situations are unique: Nobody has ever felt this way before.

Just because there isn't a "Thou shalt not" attached to a situation does not necessarily mean it is a "Thou shalt.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins.