Mortimer Adler Quotes

Integrity in the Moment of Choice: Quality of life depends on what happens in the space between stimulus and response.

I think of Martin Luther King phrase a lot when I'm deciding public issues. He said: "Here I stand: I can do no other." It is basically an affirmation of my ultimate responsibility to obey my conscience in my acts as a public official.

Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

Think before you act and act on what you believe.

Regardless of the magnitude of the decision, our brains make it hard for us to keep the perspective we need to make good choices.

Morality may consist solely in the courage of making a choice.

Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.

My responsibility is to make judgments about hard, complex issues that I believe to be right.

Individual consciences are fine but individual consciences have to be made manifest.

It’s a good thing when you don’t dare do something if you don’t think it’s right. But it’s not good when you think something’s not right because you don’t dare do it.

I think people have common sense and can tell what's real, what's right or what's wrong and work it out.

Philosophy is the sum total of all that you know and what you decide is valuable.

I think of the need for more wisdom in the world, to deal with the knowledge that we have. At one time we had wisdom, but little knowledge. Now we have a great deal of knowledge, but do we have enough wisdom to deal with that knowledge?

We have a high moral responsibility to be rational

Being rational is a moral Imperative. You should never be stupider than you need to be.

Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.

In the end, you should always do the right thing, even if it's hard. I know that might not help you and that the right thing isn't always so easy to figure out.

A person of responsibility can trust himself to choose the right thing over the easy thing.

You are responsible for the predictable consequences of your actions.

Do well and right and let the world sink.

The voice of reason is more to be regarded than the bent of any present inclination; since inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to comply with inclination.

The scientist is not responsible for the laws of nature. It is his job to find out how these laws operate. It is the scientist's job to find the ways in which these laws can serve the human will. However, it is not the scientist's job to determine whether a hydrogen bomb should be constructed, whether it should be used, or how it should be used. This responsibility rests with the American people and with their chosen representatives.

I cannot shift the blame for Chechnya, for the sorrow of numerous mothers and fathers. I made the decision, therefore I am responsible.

The fear of doing right is the grand treason in times of danger.