Quotes about Ethics

The next time you hear someone cite, 'Do not kill' when quoting the sixth commandment, gently but firmly explain that it actually says, 'Do not murder".

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed" (Genesis 9:6; emphasis added).

With all our sophistication, the remarkable fact is that the Ten Commandments are more or less all we need.

We measure morality by what happens. Not what is intended.

Unless there is a God, all morality is just opinion and belief. And virtually every atheist philosopher has acknowledged this.

In his magisterial Modern Times, the secular West wrongly applied Einstein's theories of relativity to morality: Not only were time and motion relative, so were good and evil.

However, one big obstacle to truth-telling is that believers in causes, including good causes, that don't place truth as a central value, will be very tempted to lie on behalf of their cause.

People have too often valued "proper" religious beliefs more than proper moral behavior, and even slaughtered others for not having the right religious beliefs. This is a common occurrence even in our time.

The Ten Commandments are there to warn all of us that, with very few exceptions, such as the immediate saving of innocent life, no cause is more important than truth-telling. The Ten Commandments are the greatest list of instructions ever devised for creating a good society. But such a society cannot be created or maintained if it is not based on truth.

Therefore, there is no issue here of a holy text depicting people being ordered by their God to kill infidels or innocents.

Regarding morality, intentions matter little; and often, not at all. But when it comes to relating to God (prayer, ritual acts, etc.), intentions matter a great deal.

Good societies can survive people doing immoral things. But a good society can not survive if it calls immoral things moral.