In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to do to get rich.
In this world, either you're virtuous or you enjoy yourself. Not both, lady, not both.
I killed one man to save 100,000.
For who would dare to assert that eternal happiness can compensate for a single moment's human suffering
Truth or tact? You have to choose. Most times they're not compatible. It's so hard to draw the line.
In a free society, it is hard for 'good' people to do 'good', but that is a small price to pay for making it hard for 'evil' people to do 'evil', especially since one man's good is another's evil
You have to do something bad to do something good.
Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character.
To do a great right do a little wrong.
The giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater
Every great example of punishment has in it some injustice, but the suffering individual is compensated by the public good.
An injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice.
[Republicans] swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose.
Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values.
Few persons are made of such strong fiber that they will make a costly outlay when surface work will pass as well in the market.
I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,' Smiley went on, more lightly. 'Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our concern on every stray cat, we never get to the centre of things.
