#morality

We must remember that possession of physical beauty can easily weaken the moral faculty. ↗

— Frank Tallis

#morality #vanity #weakness #beauty

Strength and success - they are above morality, above criticism. It seems, then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it. Is there a check in men, deep in them, that stops or punishes? There doesn't seem to be. The only punishment is for failure. In effect no crime is committed unless a criminal is caught. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#failure #john-steinbeck #morality #punishment #strength

If I am disobeying orders, I'd rather be with God against men than with men against God. ↗

— Aristides de Souza Mendes do Amaral e Abranches

#men

The more cashless our society becomes, the more our moral compass slips. ↗

— Dan Ariely

#honesty #money #morality #money

Is it a small thing to quench the flames of hell with the holy tears of pity -- to unbind the martyr from the stake -- break all the chains -- put out the fires of civil war -- stay the sword of the fanatic, and tear the bloody hands of the Church from the white throat of Science? Is it a small thing to make men truly free -- to destroy the dogmas of ignorance, prejudice and power -- the poisoned fables of superstition, and drive from the beautiful face of the earth the fiend of fear? ↗

— Robert G. Ingersoll

#freedom #goodness #kindness #liberty #morality

Men, some to business take, some to pleasure take; but every woman is at heart a rake ↗

— Alexander Pope

#morality #women #business

Sometimes carrying the burden of an upsetting truth, and hiding it, is actually a gift you give to someone else. You bear that burden, so they don’t have to, in a situation where telling them will change nothing. ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#care #honesty #love #moral #morality

The number one responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow. ↗

— Ron Paul

#morality #politics #change

These studies are the result of my attempt to extract the essence of literature. Literature is either the essential or nothing. I believe that the Evil—an acute form of Evil—which it expresses, has a sovereign value for us. But this concept does not exclude morality: on the contrary, it demands a 'hypermorality.' Literature is communication. Communication requires loyalty. A rigorous morality results from complicity in the knowledge of Evil, which is the basis of intense communication. —Literature and Evil ↗

— Georges Bataille

#evil #literature #morality #communication

It ought to be an offense to be excruciating and unfunny in circumstances where your audience is almost morally obliged to enthuse. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#death #humour #morality #death