#oral

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#leadership #morality #right #righteousness #leadership

You know the difference between right and wrong,' he repeated finally. 'Man, why did you need Initiation—by the Golden Dawn, or by anybody else? You are a genius, a sage, a giant among men. You have solved the problem which philosophers have been debating since antiquity—the mystery about which no two nations or tribes have ever agreed, and no two men or women have ever agreed, and no intelligent person has ever agreed totally with himself from one day to the next. You know the difference between right and wrong. I am overawed. I swoon. I figuratively kiss your feet. ↗

— Robert Anton Wilson

#morality #relativism #sarcasm #intelligence

There's more to people than some defined label," said Arcie. "There are more than straight good and evil, aye, even more than law or disorders or fence-sittin. There's prejudice, whimsey, affection, superstition, habit, upbringing, alliance, pride, society, morals, animosity, preference, values, religion, circumstance, humor, perversity, honor, vengeance, jealousy, frustration...hundreds o' factors, from the past and in every present moment, as decides what some one person'll do in an individious situation. ↗

— Eve Forward

#good #good-vs-evil #morality #jealousy

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#life #morality #religion #life

Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?" says Peeta. "It costs everything you are. ↗

— Suzanne Collins

#murder #life

Never try to do anything that is outside of who you are. A forced smile is a sign of what feels wrong in your heart, so recognize it when it happens. Living a lie will reduce you to one. ↗

— Ashly Lorenzana

#forced #honesty #identity #lies #life

My mother told me that life isn't always about pleasing yourself and that sometimes you have to do things for the sole benefit of another human being. I completely agreed with her, but reminded her that that was what blow jobs were for. ↗

— Chelsea Handler

#self-sacrifice #life

You don't read Gatsby, I said, to learn whether adultery is good or bad but to learn about how complicated issues such as adultery and fidelity and marriage are. A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil. ↗

— Azar Nafisi

#individuality #insight #issues #learning #life

Life, it turns out, goes on. There is no cosmic rule that grants you immunity from the details just because you have come face-to-face with a catastrophe. The garbage can still overflow, the bills arrive in the mail, telemarketers, interrupt dinner. ↗

— Jodi Picoult

#jodi-picoult #life #moral #perfect-match #ran

I was always an unusual girl. My mother told me I had a chameleon soul, no moral compass pointing due north, no fixed personality; just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and as wavering as the ocean. ↗

— Lana Del Rey

#chameleon #elizabeth-woolridge-grant #life #lyrics #moral-compass