Ethics Quotes - Page 27

• In sum, all actions and habits are to be esteemed good or evil by their causes and usefulness in reference to the commonwealth, and not by their mediocrity, nor by their being commended. For several men praise several customs, and, contrarily, what one calls vice, another calls virtue, as their present affections lead them.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Men, Evil, Vices

  Thomas Hobbes (2014). “Behemoth or The Long Parliament”, p.45, University of Chicago Press

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• Racial discrimination in elections in Texas is no mere historical artifact. To the contrary, Texas has been found in violation of the Voting Rights Act in every redistricting cycle from and after 1970.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  Reality, Rights, Texas

  "Ruth Bader Ginsburg Pens Scathing Dissent On Texas Voter ID Law" By Braden Goyette, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 18, 2014.

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• Now let's make two things clear: ISIL is not 'Islamic.' No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria's civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, War, Taken

  "Is It ISIS or ISIL? That Depends On Who You're Asking". Interview with Arun Rath, wvik.org. September 14, 2014.

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• I do not accept that we cannot find a common sense way to preserve our traditions, including our basic second amendment freedoms and the rights of law abiding gun owners, while at the same time reducing the gun violence that unleashes so much mayhem on a regular basis.

  Barack Obama

  Gun, Rights, Law

  "Washington Navy Yard Massacre — The Aftermath" by Dorian de Wind, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 23, 2013.

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• Ultimately, only diplomacy can bring about a durable solution to the challenge posed by Iran's nuclear program. As President and Commander in Chief, I will do what is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. However, I have a profound responsibility to try to resolve our differences peacefully, rather than rush towards conflict.

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Wisdom, Spring

  "Obama admits Israel has good reason for scepticism over Iran nuclear deal" by Dan Roberts, www.theguardian.com. November 25, 2013.

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• But having made my decision as Commander-in-Chief based on what I am convinced is our national security interests, I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people's representatives in Congress.

  Barack Obama

  Military, Government, Long

  "Obama at War". "Frontline", www.pbs.org.

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• No other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. None. Here in America, the murder rate is three times what it is in other developed nations. The murder rate with guns is ten times what it is in other developed nations. And there's nothing inevitable about it. It comes about because of decisions we make or fail to make. And it falls upon us to make it different.

  Barack Obama

  Fall, Gun, America

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• But the question is, do we care enough? Do we care enough to keep standing up for the country that we know is possible, even if it's hard, and even if it's politically uncomfortable? Do we care enough to sustain the passion and the pressure to make our communities safer and our country safer? Do we care enough to do everything we can to spare other families the pain that is felt here today?

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Country, Pain

  "CNN Newsroom" with Rosa Flores, www.cnn.com. September 22, 2013.

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• I have been in Washington for a while now, and most things don't surprise me. The fact that twenty 6-year-olds were gunned down in the most violent fashion possible and this town couldn't do anything about it was stunning to me.

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Fashion, Party

  Remarks by the President in Q&A with David Karp, CEO of Tumblr, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. June 10, 2014.

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• We cannot stop every act of senseless violence. We cannot know every evil that lurks in troubled minds. But if we can prevent even one tragedy like this, save even one life, spare other families what these families are going through, surely we've got an obligation to try.

  Barack Obama

  Justice, Evil, Community

  "CNN Newsroom" with Rosa Flores, www.cnn.com. September 22, 2013.

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• Nobody's madder than me about the website not working as well as it should, which means it's going to get fixed.

  Barack Obama

  Mean, Health, Politics

  "Obama: No 'sugarcoating' problems with health website" by Matt Smith and Tom Cohen, www.cnn.com. October 21, 2013.

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• We Americans are not an inherently more violent people than folks in other countries. We're not inherently more prone to mental health problems. The main difference that sets our nation apart is what makes us so susceptible to so many mass shootings is that we don't do enough, we don't take the basic commonsense actions to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. What's different in America is it's easy to get your hands on a gun.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Gun, Mass Shootings

  "CNN Newsroom" with Rosa Flores, www.cnn.com. September 22, 2013.

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• I have faith, as I did when I announced my stem-cell decision in 2001, that science and ethics can coexist.

  George W. Bush

  Cells, Decision, Religion

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• In a world where profit is consistently put before both people and the planet, climate economics has everything to do with ethics and morality.

  Naomi Klein

  People, Climate, World

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• [Washington, DC] feels like you're watching performance art. A lot of the time. I don't believe them, I don't believe what they say, I don't think they're being absolutely sincere. I think it's performance art. And most of them are bad actors.

  Kevin Spacey

  Art, Believe, Reality

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• You know, we did a good job in containing the Soviet Union, but we made a lot of mistakes, we supported really nasty guys, we did some things that we are not particularly proud of, from Latin America to Southeast Asia, but we did have a kind of overarching framework about what we were trying to do that did lead to the defeat of the Soviet Union and the collapse of Communism. That was our objective. We achieved it.

  Hillary Clinton

  Leadership, Jobs, Latin

  "Hillary Clinton: 'Failure' to Help Syrian Rebels Led to the Rise of ISIS". Interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, www.theatlantic.com. August 10, 2014.

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• Recently in Washington, unfortunately, we have seen examples of the wrong kind of leadership -- when politicians choose scorched earth over common ground, when they operate in what I call the 'evidence-free zone,' with ideology trumping everything else.

  Hillary Clinton

  Party, Reality, Justice

  "Hillary Clinton Endorses Terry McAuliffe In Virginia Gubernatorial Race; Four-Year-Old Girl found By Police Without Identification; Escaped Killers' Families Speak Out; Neighbors Describe Death Scene; Bugs Plague College Application Site; The Science Behind Hurricanes; Monsters from the Deep". "CNN Newsroom", www.cnn.com. October 19, 2013.

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• There is one lesson from the past, in particular, that we cannot afford to ignore: You cannot make progress on gender equality or broader human development, without safeguarding women's reproductive health and rights.

  Hillary Clinton

  Leadership, Wisdom, Past

  "Hillary Clinton preaches 'social gospel' not politics in latest speech". Hillary Clinton's address to a group of over 7,000 women about spiritual and social issues at United Methodist Women's Assembly in Kentucky, www.theglobaldispatch.com. April 28, 2014.

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• During the years 1945-1965 (I am referring to Europe), there was a certain way of thinking correctly, a certain style of politicaldiscourse, a certain ethics of the intellectual. One had to be on familiar terms with Marx, not let one's dreams stray too far from Freud.... These were therequirements that made the strange occupation of writing and speaking a measure of truth about oneself and one's time acceptable.

  Michel Foucault

  Dream, Writing, Thinking

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• If you come to me and say, 'Hey look I'm a racist,' or 'I discriminate against blacks,' or 'I don't like you because you're African American,' I respect that. I can respect you more by doing that. But don't smile in my face, shake my hand, and then you don't really respect me, or want me to be around, or come to your games as the owner of the Clippers.

  Magic Johnson

  Reality, Hands, Games

  "Magic Johnson says Donald Sterling should sell Clippers" by Matt Moore, www.cbssports.com. April 27, 2014.

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• The Prime Minister, a specialist in calling in the locksmith after the horses had fled - the whole herd in fact - and the barn in ruins, ended the week with a great raft of ethics proposals for cabinet, leadership candidates, backbenchers and lobbyists. I think it is more than fair to ask: Why wait for the middle of his third term to institute what the public would have welcomed at the beginning of his first?

  Rex Murphy

  Horse, Thinking, Waiting

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• No man can be a sound lawyer in this land who is not well read in the ethics of Moses and the virtues of Jesus.

  Fisher Ames

  Christian, Religious, Jesus

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• We now live in a 'post-Christian' America . The Judeo-Christian ethic no longer guides our social institutions. Christian ideals and values no longer dominate social thought and action. The Bible has ceased to be a common base of moral authority for judging whether something is right or wrong, good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable.

  Harvey Cox

  Christian, Religious, America

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• We all accuse Vladimir Putin of Cold War nostalgia, but Washington's elites - politicians and intellectuals - miss the old days as well. They wish for the world in which the United States was utterly dominant over its friends, its foes were to be shunned entirely, and the challenges were stark, moral, and vital. Today's world is messy and complicated. China is one of our biggest trading partners and our looming geopolitical rival. Russia is a surly spoiler, but it has a globalized middle class and has created ties in Europe.

  Fareed Zakaria

  Leadership, Money, War

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• I care not for the theoretical symmetry and impregnable logic of your moral code, I care not for the hoary respectability and traditional mysticisms of your theological institutions, I care not for the beauty and solemnity of your rituals and religious ceremonies, I care not even for the reasonableness and unimpeachable fairness of your social ethics,--if it does not turn out better, nobler, truer, men and women,--if it does not add to the world's stock of valuable souls,--if it does not give us a sounder, healthier, more reliable product from this great factory of men--I will have none of it.

  Anna Julia Cooper

  Religious, Men, Giving

  Anna Julia Cooper, Charles C. Lemert, Esme Bhan (1998). “The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper: Including A Voice from the South and Other Important Essays, Papers, and Letters”, p.187, Rowman & Littlefield

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