ethics Quotes

When I first went to Israel, I saw soldiers pushing Palestinians around and thought, 'I can't stand this'. Then I'd meet somebody in a bar saying what wonderful people the Palestinians are and what mamzers the Jews are, and I'd think, 'Hang on'. It should be hard to make up your mind on any serious subject.

Your ability to rationalize your own bad deeds makes you believe that the whole world is as amoral as you are.

I think if we wish to live in any kind of a moral universe, we must hold the perpetrators of violence responsible for the violence they perpetrate. It's very simple. The criminal is responsible for the crime.

It is often said by religious people that without its framework, there is no sense of right or wrong. My view is that religion comes after ethics.

Ten commandments yet seven deadly sins: conflict?

I have always hated slavery, I think, as much as any abolitionist. I have been an Old Line Whig. I have always hated it, but I have always been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska Bill began.

When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

To cut short the question of the law of retaliation, we must note that even in its primitive form it can operate only between two individuals of whom one is absolutely innocent, and the other absolutely guilty. The victim, to be sure, is innocent. But can the society that is supposed to represent the victim lay claim to innocence?