Quotes about Ethics

The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.

No humane being... will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does.

Wilt thou seal up the avenues of ill? Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill.

...that freshness of feeling, that delicate honor which shrinks from wounding even a sentiment...

Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed. People talk sometimes of secret vices. There are no such things. If a wretched man has a vice, it shows itself in the lines of his mouth, the droop of his eyelids, the moulding of his hands even.

But when there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

Whether the succeeding generation is to be more virtuous than their predecessors I cannot say; but I am sure they will have more worldly wisdom, and enough, I hope, to know that honesty is the 1st chapter in the book of wisdom.

The universe does not favour the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous.

If you real desire is to be good, there is no need to wait for the money before you do it; you can do it now, this very moment, and just where you are.

He no longer acts from self, but does what is right— what is universally and eternally right.

Without self-discipline a man drifts lower and lower, approximating more and more nearly to the beast, until at last he grovels, a lost creature, in the mire of his own befoulment. By self-discipline a man rises higher and higher, approximating more and more nearly to the divine, until at last he stands erect in his divine dignity, a saved soul, glorified by the radiance of his purity. Let a man discipline himself, and he will live; let a man cease to discipline himself, and he will perish.

Do not long to do great and laudable things; these will do themselves if you do your present task nobly.