Moral Principles Quotes - Page 2

• The founders of this nation understood that private morality is the fount from whence sound public policy springs. Replying to Washington's first inaugural address, the Senate stated: "We feel, sir, the force and acknowledge the justness of the observation that the foundation of our national policy should be lain in private morality. If individuals be not influenced by moral principles it is in vain to look for public virtue."

  Thomas G. West

  Spring, Foundation, Sound

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• A man that puts himself on the ground of moral principle, if the whole world be against him, is mightier than all of them.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, World, Principles

  Henry Ward Beecher (1866). “Royal truths”, p.34

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• My position concerning God is that of an agnostic. I am convinced that a vivid consciousness of the primary importance of moral principles for the betterment and ennoblement of life does not need the idea of a law-giver, especially a law-giver who works on the basis of reward and punishment.

  Albert Einstein

  Law, Punishment, Ideas

  Albert Einstein (2010). “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein”, p.340, Princeton University Press

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• Through the imparting of moral principles, good behaviour, and education we must make the Chandala come up to the level of the Brahmana.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Principles, Behaviour, Levels

  Swami Vivekananda, Swami Saradananda (1964). “Swamiji's Message to a Disciple: Reprint from the Talks with Swami Vivekananda”

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• Us atheist people, we believe we have to act properly and honestly for a moral principle and not because we expect an award in Paradise.

  Margherita Hack

  Atheist, Believe, Awards

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• For me, nonviolence was not a moral principle but a strategy; there is no moral goodness in using an ineffective weapon.

  Nelson Mandela

  Principles, Moral Goodness, Weapons

  Nelson Mandela (2012). “Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom”, p.24, Simon and Schuster

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• To risk reputation and affection for the truth's sake is so demanding that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle that only the Spirit of God can work in you. Do not turn your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow boldly in your Master's steps, for He has made this rough journey before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest than false peace and everlasting torment.

  Alistair Begg

  Journey, Men, Play

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• By ethical argument and moral principle the greatest crimes are eventually shown to have been necessary, and, in fact, a signal benefit to mankind.

  Zhuangzi

  Taoism, Principles, Benefits

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• In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.

  Maxine Hong Kingston

  Inspirational, Peace, School

  Maxine Hong Kingston (2003). “The Fifth Book of Peace”, Knopf

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• At the center of the Christian faith is the affirmation that there is a God in the universe who is the ground and essence of all reality. A Being of infinite love and boundless power, God is the creator, sustainer, and conserver of values....In contrast to the ethical relativism of [totalitarianism], Christianity sets forth a system of absolute moral values and affirms that God has placed within the very structure of this universe certain moral principles that are fixed and immutable.

  Martin Luther

  Christian, Principles, Moral

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• "Judge not, that ye be not judge"... is an abdication of moral responsibility: it is a moral blank check one gives to others in exchange for a moral blank check one expects for oneself. There is no escape from the fact that men have to make choices; so long as men have to make choices, there is no escape from moral values; so long as moral values are at stake, no moral neutrality is possible. To abstain from condemning a torturer, is to become an accesory to the torture and murder of his victims. The moral principle to adopt... is: "Judge, and be prepared to be judged."

  Ayn Rand

  Fear, Responsibility, Men

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• There are ultimately only two possible adjustments to life; one is to suit our lives to principles; the other is to suit principles to our lives. If we do not live as we think, we soon begin to think as we live. The method of adjusting moral principles to the way men live is just a perversion of the order of things.

  Fulton J. Sheen

  Men, Thinking, Order

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• There is no peace and no rest in the development of material interests. They have their law, and their justice. But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only in a moral principle.

  Joseph Conrad

  Law, Justice, Principles

  Joseph Conrad (1996). “Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard”, p.341, Wordsworth Editions

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• Someone said that patriotism is the last refuge of cowards; those without moral principles usually wrap a flag around themselves, and those bastards always talk about the purity of race.

  Umberto Eco

  Race, Coward, Principles

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• Men's moral principles are weak enough without their being made subordinate to selfishness; and their selfishness is quite active enough, without any such effort as Christianity makes to constitute it the mainspring of all their conduct.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Effort, Selfishness

  Lysander Spooner (1971). “The collected works of Lysander Spooner”

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• Equality is not the empirical claim that all groups of humans are interchangeable; it is the moral principle that individuals should not be judged or constrained by the average properties of their group.

  Steven Pinker

  Average, Principles, Groups

  Steven Pinker (2003). “The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature”, p.449, Penguin

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• On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Fighting, Faith Religion

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826”, p.42, Cosimo, Inc.

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• It is probably a pity that every citizen of each state cannot visit all the others, to see the differences, to learn what we have in common, and come back with a richer, fuller understanding of America - in all its beauty, in all its dignity, in all its strength, in support of moral principles.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Travel, Differences, America

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1959). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1955”, p.619, Best Books on

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• Remember that rights are moral principles which define and protect a man's freedom of action, but impose no obligations on other men.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Rights, Principles

  Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.94, Penguin

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• America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world.

  George H. W. Bush

  America, People, History

  Presidential Inaugural Address, delivered 20 January 1989

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• Character is just another term for "good person." A person of character lives a worthy life guided by moral principles. A person of character is a good parent, a good friend, a good employee and a good citizen.

  Michael Josephson

  Character, Good Friend, Parent

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• I was raised the old-fashioned way, with a stern set of moral principles: Never lie, cheat, steal or knowingly spread a venereal disease. Never speed up to hit a pedestrian or, or course, stop to kick a pedestrian who has already been hit. From which it followed, of course, that one would never ever -- on pain of deletion from dozens of Christmas card lists across the country -- vote Republican.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Country, Pain, Lying

  Barbara Ehrenreich (1990). “WORST YEARS OF OUR LIVES”, Pantheon

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• Dangerous consequences will follow when politicians and rulers forget moral principles. Whether we believe in God or karma, ethics is the foundation of every religion.

  Dalai Lama

  Karma, Believe, Principles

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• True character arises from a deeper well than religion. It is the internalization of moral principles of a society, augmented by those tenets personally chosen by the individual, strong enough to endure through trials of solitude and adversity. The principles are fitted together into what we call integrity, literally the integrated self, wherein personal decisions feel good and true. Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others.

  E. O. Wilson

  Strong, Integrity, Character

  "Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge". Book by E. O. Wilson, 1998.

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• I think that violence and nonviolence are not moral principles, they’re tactics.

  Jerry Vlasak

  Thinking, Principles, Tactics

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