Quotes about Ethics

if you sufficiently dismember yourself, you will not be able to do any wrong action. This is the logic by which Jesus reduces the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees to the absurd.

In every concrete situation we have to ask ourselves, not "Did I do the specific things in Jesus' illustrations?" but "Am I being the kind of person Jesus' illustrations are illustrations of?

Consider a daily newspaper or television newscast and eliminate from it every report that presupposes a breaking of one of the Ten Commandments. Very little will be left.

But what is true of Christianity in its inception and history is true of other religions as well. They all present themselves as providing knowledge of what is real and what is right. To think otherwise is to falsify the very nature of religious consciousness and religious life

Great power requires great character if it is to be a blessing and not a curse, and that character is something we only grow toward.

Your tongue follows correctness; your heart follows truth.

One has to feel strong revulsion toward the wrong feeling one now has or is likely to have and at the same time strong attraction to good feeling that one does not now feel.

Can anyone now seriously believe that if people are only permitted or enabled to do what they want, they will then be happy or more disposed to do what is right?

What is the point of standing up for rights in a world where few stand up for their responsibilities? Your rights will do you little good unless others are responsible

Such planning should include identifying the things in your life that you believe trouble Jesus—impatience, overeating, lying, or whatever it may be for you.

Dogma is what you have to believe, whether you believe it or not. And law is what you must do, whether it is good for you or not.

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, do not accept, as you may lose a friend.