#oral

The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. ↗

— Margaret Chase Smith

#character #easy #easy way #moral #moral character

It is not for a man to put himself in such an attitude to society, but to maintain himself in whatever attitude he find himself through obedience to the laws of his being, which will never be one of opposition to a just government, if he should chance to meet with such. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#self-belief #society #attitude

An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done. The writer's only responsibility is to his art. ↗

— William Faulkner

#morality #writing #art

It seems to me that the moralist is the most useless and contemptible of creatures. He is useless in that he would expend his energies upon making judgments rather than upon gaining knowledge, for the reason that judgment is easy and knowledge is difficult. He is contemptible in that his judgments reflect a vision of himself which in his ignorance and pride he would impose upon the world. I implore you, do not become a moralist; you will destroy your art and your mind. ↗

— John Edward Williams

#art

The man who indulges us in this natural passion, who invites us into his heart, who, as it were, sets open the gates of his breast to us, seems to exercise a species of hospitality more delightful than any other. No man, who is in ordinary good temper, can fail of pleasing, if he has the courage to utter his real sentiments as he feels them, and because he feels them. ↗

— Adam Smith

#courage

If it is not tempered by compassion, and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void. (95) ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#compassion #empathy #immorality #morality #reason

The art of hearing what somebody has to say is actually, listening. ↗

— Colette Ruland Parrino

#morals-love #art

One ought always to lie, when one can do good by it; ↗

— Mark Twain

#lie #morality #art

Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right. ↗

— Theodore Roosevelt

#moral-courage #courage

Writing engenders in us certain attitudes toward language. It encourages us to take words for granted. Writing has enabled us to store vast quantities of words indefinitely. This is advantageous on the one hand but dangerous on the other. The result is that we have developed a kind of false security where language is concerned, and our sensitivity to language has deteriorated. And we have become in proportion insensitive to silence. ↗

— N. Scott Momaday

#oral-tradition #writing #attitude