What I have absolutely no sympathy with is the legislator, the man who seeks, for his own profit, to exploit read more

What I have absolutely no sympathy with is the legislator, the man who seeks, for his own profit, to exploit the weaknesses of those who are unable to help themselves and then to fasten some moral superscription upon it. This I loathe so much that I cannot conceivably explain how much it is.

Everywhere, the ethical predicament of our time imposes itself with an urgency which suggests that even the question "Have we read more

Everywhere, the ethical predicament of our time imposes itself with an urgency which suggests that even the question "Have we anything to eat?" will be answered not in material but in ethical terms.

The end never really justifies the meanness.

The end never really justifies the meanness.

We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side; one which we preach but do not practice, and read more

We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side; one which we preach but do not practice, and another which we practice but seldom preach.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

Kant, as we all know, compared moral law to the starry heavens,
and found them both sublime. On the read more

Kant, as we all know, compared moral law to the starry heavens,
and found them both sublime. On the naturalistic hypothesis we
should rather compare it to the protective blotches on a beetle's
back, and find them both ingenious.

Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that read more

Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good ;consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.

It is curious - curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare

It is curious - curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare

Morality without religion is only a kind of dead reckoning - an endeavor to find our place on a cloudy read more

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.