#oral

Nothing in Chomsky's account acknowledges the difference between intending to kill a child, because of the effect you hope to produce on its parents (we call this "terrorism"), and inadvertently killing a child in an attempt to capture or kill an avowed child murderer (we call this "collateral damage"). In both cases a child has died, and in both cases it is a tragedy. But the ethical status of the perpetrators, be they individuals or states, could not be more distinct... For Chomsky, intentions do not seem to matter. Body count is all. ↗

— Sam Harris

#collateral-damage #moral-equivalence #noam-chomsky #faith

And now they were weary and frightened because they had gone against a system they did not understand and it had beaten them. They knew that the team and the wagon were worth much more. They knew the buyer man would get much more, but they didn't know how to do it. Merchandising was a secret to them. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#ethics #faith #morality #spirituality #business

There will be people wishing to see the things you see, but can't. So the things they see physical is temporal, but the things shone spiritually is eternal. ↗

— Anthony Liccione

#faith #hope #temporal #faith

Psychological man may be going nowhere, but he aims to achieve a certain speed and certainty in going. Like his predecessor, the man of the market economy, he understands morality as that which is conducive to increased activity. The important thing is to keep going. ↗

— Philip Rieff

#psychology #faith

Liberty is the act of making the Government Fear what you KNOW! ↗

— Faith Brashear

#faith #happiness #justice #liberty-s-crusade #life-lessons

Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light. ↗

— Madeleine L'Engle

#family

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. ↗

— C.S. Lewis

#christianity #morality #family

I'm beginning to wonder," said Kent, sitting down now on an overturned wooden tub. "Who do I serve? Why am I here?" You are here, because, in the expanding ethical ambiguity of our situation, you are steadfast in your righteousness. It is to you, our banished friend, that we all turn—a light amid the dark dealings of family and politics. You are the moral backbone on which the rest of us hang our bloody bits. Without you we are merely wiggly masses of desire writhing in our own devious bile." Really?" asked the old knight. Aye," said I. I'm not sure I want to keep company with you lot, then. ↗

— Christopher Moore

#fool #kent #morality #family

Before I can say I am, I was. Heraclitus and I, prophets of flux, know that the flux is composed of parts that imitate and repeat each other. Am or was, I am cumulative, too. I am everything I ever was, whatever you and Leah may think. I am much of what my parents and especially my grandparents were -- inherited stature, coloring, brains, bones (that part unfortunate), plus transmitted prejudices, culture, scruples, likings, moralities, and moral errors that I defend as if they were personal and not familial. ↗

— Wallace Stegner

#family #heritage #identity #morality #past

It is true that as World War II recedes into the mists of time, almost all big-hearted progressives or liberals (or whatever self-congratulatory term they apply to themselves) denounce Nazism and fascism with the utmost ardor. Yet when these odious movements were on the rise, many among the British elite cautioned prudence in dealing with them; and some actually admired them, including members of the royal family and, of course, clerics in the Anglican Church. ↗

— R. Emmett Tyrrell

#family