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Morality and Ethics Quotes and Quotations
 A truth that's told with bad intent - beats all the lies you can invent.  An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it. An improper mind is a perpetual feast. Every man has his moral backside too, which he doesn't expose unnecessarily but keeps covered as long as possible by the trousers of decorum. In statesmanship get formalities right, never mind about the moralities. It is a public scandal that gives offence and it is no sin to sin in secret. - Moliere Moral indignation is, in most cases, 2% moral, 48% indignation and 50% envy. Morality is the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong and that 99% of them are wrong. Of moral purpose I see no trace in Nature. That is an article of exclusively human manufacture - and very much to our credit. One of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame, we have killed off so much real shame as well. Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. - Bible The flea, though he kill none, he does all the harm he can. The only people who should really sin are the people who can sin with a grin. The so-called new morality has too often the old immorality condoned. To act without rapacity, to use knowledge with wisdom, to respect interdependence, to operate without hubris and greed are not simply moral imperatives. They are an accurate scientific description of the means of survival. If some great power would agree to make me always think what is true and do what is right, on condition of being some sort of clock and wound up every morning before I got out of bed, I should close instantly with the offer. We have two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice, and the other which we practice but seldom preach. There are ten commandments, right? Well, it's like an exam. You get eight out of ten, you're just about top of the class. A man does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint. No man is so exquisitely honest or upright in living but that ten times in his life he might not lawfully be hanged. It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them. Only that which does not teach, which does not cry out, which does not condescend, which does not explain, is irresistible. Quality - in its classic Greek sense - how to live with grace and intelligence, with bravery and mercy. What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike. No morality can be founded on authority, even if the authority were divine. In any assembly the simplest way to stop transacting business and split the ranks is to appeal to a principle. He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars: general good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer. For art and science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars. You've got to be brave and you've got to be bold. Brave enough to take your chance on your own discrimination - what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's bad. Most people sell their souls and live with a good conscience on the proceeds. This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again. Below the navel there is neither religion nor truth. It is customary these days to ignore what should be done in favour of what pleases us. - Plautus What is morality but immemorial custom? Conscience is the chief of conservatives. What you get free costs too much. You cannot receive a shock unless you have an electric affinity for that which shocks you. Even moderation ought not to be practised to excess. When a blind man carries the lame man, both go forward. I have found by experience that they who have spent all their lives in cities, improve their talents but impair their virtues; and strengthen their minds but weaken their morals. Shame and guilt are noble emotions essential in the maintenance of civilized society, and vital for the development of some of the most refined and elegant qualities of human potential - generosity, service, self-sacrifice, unselfishness and duty. If your morals make you dreary, depend on it they are wrong. Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. So aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. Moral courage is a more rare commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Morality is not respectability. Moral indignation - jealousy with a halo. Nobody does nothing for nobody for naught. The man who is anybody and who does anything is surely going to be criticized, vilified, and misunderstood. This is part of the penalty for greatness, and every man understands, too, that it is no proof of greatness. 
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