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
The better one is morally the less aware they are of their virtue.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
We become moral when we are unhappy.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French 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
But the relationship of morality and power is a very subtle one. Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
Morality is the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that 99% of them are wrong.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Might was the measure of right.
—F. L. Lucas (1894–1967) English Literary Critic, Poet, Novelist, Playwright
Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
That wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is most often unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the complaint of moralists in all ages.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
There’s always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The foundations of morality are like all other foundations: If you dig too much about them the superstructure will come tumbling down.
—Samuel Butler
For the “superior morality,” of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this “superior morality” is properly rather an “inferior criminality,” produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The quality of moral behavior varies in inverse ratio to the number of human beings involved.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
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
As the few adepts in such things well know, universal morality is to be found in little everyday penny-events just as much as in great ones. There is so much goodness and ingenuity in a raindrop that an apothecary wouldn’t let it go for less than half-a-crown…
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Morality is simply the attitude we adopt toward people whom we personally dislike.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
To set up as a standard of public morality a notion which can neither be defined nor conceived is to open the door to every kind of tyranny.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Many people convince themselves if it is economically necessary, it’s morally right. That’s not always the case.
—Unknown
Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant’s truce between virtue and vice.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
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
The great rule of moral conduct is, next to God, to respect time.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Why, a moral truth is a hollow tooth which must be propped with gold.
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) American Poet, Novelist
An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
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
It is not best when we use our morals on weekdays; it gets them out of repair for Sundays.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
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 American Theologian
The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Physical deformity, calls forth our charity. But the infinite misfortune of moral deformity calls forth nothing but hatred and vengeance.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer