They talk of morals, O, thou bleeding lamb! the grand morality is love to thee!
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
I have never found a thorough, pervading, enduring morality but in those who feared God.
—Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819) German Philosopher
It’s morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
The world of empirical morality consists for the most part of nothing but ill will and envy.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Ordinary morality is only for ordinary people.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Musician, Philosopher, Physician
It is safe to say that no other superstition is so detrimental to growth, so enervating and paralyzing to the minds and hearts of the people, as the superstition of Morality.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
The only immorality is not to do what one has to do when one has to do it.
—Jean Anouilh (1910–87) French Dramatist
Morality, when vigorously alive, sees farther than intellect, and provides unconsciously for intellectual difficulties.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
Morality is contraband in war.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
In his present life a wise man who is perfectly equipped with morality is always honoured. After his death he will enter into the realm of bliss. He is thus blessed with rejoice everywhere.
—Buddhist Teaching
Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant’s truce between virtue and vice.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
There is no true and abiding morality that is not founded in religion.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
There can be no high civility without a deep morality.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
Morality without religion is only a kind of dead-reckoning—an endeavor to find our place on a cloudy sea by measuring the distance we have run, but without any observation of the heavenly bodies.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
I restrict myself within bounds in saying, that, so far as I have observed in this life, ten men have failed from defect in morals where one has failed from defect in intellect.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
We become moral when we are unhappy.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Morality is a private and costly luxury.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
Our morality seems to be only a check on the ultimate domination of force, just as our politeness is a check on the impulse of every pig to put his feet in the trough.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
A moral lesson is better expressed in short sayings than in long discourse.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–1795) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
Morality is only moral when it is voluntary.
—Lincoln Steffens (1846–1936) American Journalist, Academic, Political Philosopher
The great rule of moral conduct is, next to God, to respect time.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
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