If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it they are wrong. I do not say “give them up,” for they may be all you have; but conceal them like a vice, lest they should spoil the lives of better and simpler people.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Every man has his moral backside which he refrains from showing unless he has to and keeps covered as long as possible with the trousers of decorum.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Every young man would do well to remember that all successful business stands on the foundation of morality.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
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
The Christian religion is the only one that puts morality on its proper, and the right basis, viz: the fear and love of God.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Compassion is the basis of all morality.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
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
Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Modern morality and manners suppress all natural instincts, keep people ignorant of the facts of nature and make them fighting drunk on bogey tales.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace; some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Neither can the Vedas be of real help in the hereafter, nor can his birth nor relatives. Only his flawless morality can bring about the happiness in the hereafter.
—Buddhist Teaching
Men are not made religious by performing certain actions which are externally good, but they must first have righteous principles, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
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
Morality is a private and costly luxury.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) German Lutheran Pastor, Theologian
It’s morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
Children lack morality, but they also lack fake morality.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Piety and morality are but the same spirit differently manifested. Piety is religion with its fact toward God; morality is religion with its fact toward the world.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial consequences. It is only through extremes that men can arrive at the middle path of wisdom and virtue.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
The essence of morality is a questioning about morality; and the decisive move of human life is to use ceaselessly all light to look for the origin of the opposition between good and evil.
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French Essayist, Intellectual
The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
—Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British Scientist, Science-fiction Writer
The higher the buildings, the lower the morals.
—Noel Coward (1899–1973) English Dramatist, Actor, Composer
If a wise man hopes for the threefold enjoyment of fame, wealth and happiness in the hereafter, let him sincerely practise morality.
—Buddhist Teaching
The greater part of humanity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggle with want, to rally itself for a new and sterner struggle with error.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
When we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something, not that it is a pragmatic necessity for us to have it, but that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen, and then is when the thin whine of hysteria is heard in the land, and then is when we are in bad trouble.
—Joan Didion (1934–2021) American Essayist, Novelist, Memoirist
In the ocean of baseness, the deeper we get, the easier the sinking.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Morality without religion has no roots.—It becomes a thing of custom, changeable, transient, and optional.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
To give a man full knowledge of morality, I would send him to no other book than the New Testament.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
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