The only way we can develop muscle is through regular exercise. As soon as we stop stretching and working toward higher ethics, our standards start to sag. The muscle gets soft, and instead of excellence we have to settle for mediocrity. Maybe something even worse.
—Price Pritchett (b.1941) American Management Consultant
Without ethics, everything happens as if we were all five billion passengers on a big machinery and nobody is driving the machinery. And it’s going faster and faster, but we don’t know where.
—Jacques Cousteau (1910–97) French Oceanographer, Documentary Director
There is a universal moral law, as distinct from a moral code, which consists of certain statements of fact about the nature of man, and by behaving in conformity with which, man may enjoy his true freedom.
—Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) British Crime Writer
We endeavor to make a virtue of the faults we are unwilling to correct.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Ethical living is the indispensable condition of all that is most worthwhile in the world.
—Ernest Caldecott (1889–1974) British-American Minister
People need religion. It’s a vehicle for a moral tradition. A crucial role. Nothing can take its place.
—Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American Political Writer, Publisher
Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Notice that “I” is at the center of the word “ethical.” There is no “they.” Achieving the ethics of excellence is our individual assignment.
—Price Pritchett (b.1941) American Management Consultant
Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.
—Jane Addams (1860–1935) American Social Reformer, Feminist
The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, “I was wrong.”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Let me give you the definition of ethics: it is good to maintain life and to further life. It is bad to damage and destroy life. And this ethic, profound and universal, has the significance of a religion. It is religion.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Philosopher, Musician, Physician
The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Philosopher, Musician, Physician
A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectively on sympathy, education, and social relationships; 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.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.
—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76) Russian Anarchist Philosopher
Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Philosopher, Musician, Physician
The simplest and shortest ethical precept is to be served as little as possible . . . and to serve others as much as possible.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
We’re given a code to live our lives by. We don’t always follow it, but it’s still there.
—Gary Oldman (b.1958) British Actor, Filmmaker
Ethical dilemmas have a way of sneaking up on a person. If something smells funny, stay away from it. Or help get rid of it.
—Price Pritchett (b.1941) American Management Consultant
We never reach our ideals, whether of mental or moral improvement, but the thought of them shows us our deficiencies, and spurs us on to higher and better things.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
In law, a man is guilty when he violates the rights of another. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
The ethics of excellence require a sense of perspective. Look at the big picture. If you live for the moment, do you mortgage the future? What happens if you put your reputation at risk . . . and lose the bet?
—Price Pritchett (b.1941) American Management Consultant
In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics.
—Earl Warren (1891–1974) American Judge, Politician, Governor
An ethical person ought to do more than he’s required to do and less than he’s allowed to do
—Indian Proverb
Sorrow breaks season, and reposing hours; makes the night morning, and the noontide night.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Ethics and equity and the principles of justice do not change with the calendar.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
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