Quotes about Ethics

Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.

If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.

Don't do anything that goes against your conscience, even if your country says so.

True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.

Science has therefore 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.

Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.

I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves—such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine.

The highest principles for our aspirations and judgments are given to us in the Jewish-Christian religious tradition.

It is abhorrent to me when a fine intelligence is paired with an unsavory character

In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests'.

The example of great and pure individuals is the only thing that can lead us to noble thoughts and deeds.

But the nature of the universe is such that the ends never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.