Jose Saramago Quotes

I have to do what's right.

I think the greater responsibility, in terms of morality, is where leadership begins.

It is a sin not to do what one is capable of doing.

Reasonable ideas which find their sanction in the conscience of the righteous do not die; they are consequently realities and active forces, but they are so only to the extent that those who profess them know how to turn them to account.

There are situations which cannot honorably be met by art.

We are all responsible for our actions and our failures to act.

Politicians may do as they please, so long as they violate no rule of right, no principle of justice, no law of God; but in no world, in no order, or condition, have men the right to do wrong.

Law is, for the most part, positive or mandatory. It prescribes certain duties which I am to do as the condition of my civic protection. Conscience is, for the most part, negative or prohibitory in its operation. It sets before me certain evils to be undone or repented of. Thus law aims to exalt its subject, or make him conventionally righteous; while conscience aims to humiliate him

Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws—but the final task is not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted—when we tolerate what we know to be wrong—when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy, or too frightened—when we fail to speak up and speak out—we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.

The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.

Enlightened people seldom or never possess a sense of responsibility.

Literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity.

The inability of those in power to still the voices of their own consciences is the great force leading to change.

Morality is a private and costly luxury.

Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any methods.

Without a moral framework, there is nothing left but immediate self-indulgence by some and the path of least resistance by others. Neither can sustain a free society.

I think a lot of people in America do not understand that the basis of true liberty can't happen without an objective moral standard by which we live our lives.

I derive no pleasure from prosecuting a man, even though I know he's guilty; do you think I could sleep at night or look at myself in the mirror in the morning if I hounded an innocent man?

My feeling is that the hero has now been defined by phrases like the odious one that we were all raised with - crimes does not pay. Of course it pays, you schmuck. That's not why we don't do it. We don't do it because it is wrong.

We must never lose sight of the fact that the law has a moral foundation, and we must never fail to ask ourselves not only what the law is, but what the law should be.

Asking someone else to do something immoral is immoral.

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.

There is nothing politically right that is morally wrong.

When about to commit a base deed, respect thyself, though there is no witness.

'The Author' is a play about responsibility, how active we are as spectators and how responsible we are for what we choose to look at.