A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will read more

A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will not.

The principles we live by, in business and in social life, are the most important part of happiness.

The principles we live by, in business and in social life, are the most important part of happiness.

Obscenity is in the crotch of the beholder.

Obscenity is in the crotch of the beholder.

I'm one of the undeserving poor . . . up ugen middle-class
morality all the time . . . read more

I'm one of the undeserving poor . . . up ugen middle-class
morality all the time . . . . What is middle-class morality?
Just an excuse for never giving me anything.

The attainment of an ideal is often the beginning of a disillusion.

The attainment of an ideal is often the beginning of a disillusion.

Ah! How neatly tied, in these people, is the umbilical cord of morality! Since they left their mothers they have read more

Ah! How neatly tied, in these people, is the umbilical cord of morality! Since they left their mothers they have never sinned, have they? They are apostles, they are the descendants of priests; one can only wonder from what source they draw their indignation, and above all how much they have pocketed to do this, and in any case what it has done for them.

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.

When we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something, not that it is a read more

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.

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.