Moral Reasoning Quotes

If I knew that it was possible to save all the children of Germany by transporting them to England, and only half by transferring them to the Land of Israel, I would choose the latter, for before us lies not only the numbers of these children but the historical reckoning of the people of Israel.

There are two reasons not to tell the truth--becuase lying will get you what you want, and because lying will keep someone from getting hurt.

A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified.

A categorical imperative would be one which represented an action as objectively necessary in itself, without reference to any other purpose.

Morality is often seen as an innovation, like agriculture and writing. From this perspective, babies are pint-sized psychopaths, self-interested beings who need to be taught moral notions such as the wrongness of harming another person.

Morality is a mountain which we cannot climb by our own efforts; and if we could we should only perish in the ice and unbreathable air of the summit, lacking those wings with which the rest of the journey has to be accomplished. For it is from there that the real ascent begins. The ropes and axes are 'done away' and the rest is a matter of flying.

One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all.

Very rarely do people make big compromises with their integrity. Almost every compromise is a small one that is easily justified. The downhill slide is usually a result of many little compromises.

What makes us human is that we ask questions. All the animals have interests, instincts and conceptions. All the animals frame for themselves an idea of the world in which they live. But we alone question our surroundings.

The moral man is as guilty as the rest. His morality cannot save him.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

I am not advocating a morality based on evolution.

Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.

Tolerance cannot afford to have anything to do with the fallacy that evil may convert itself to good.

Rough Johnson, the great moralist.

Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.

Revolting means for good ends make the ends of themselves revolting.

When humans act like animals, they become the most dangerous of animals to themselves and other humans, and this is because of another critical difference between humans and animals: Whereas animals are usually restrained by the limits of physical appetites, humans have mental appetites that can be far more gross and capacious than physical ones. Only humans squander and hoard, murder and pillage because of notions.

My work is based on the assumption that clarity and consistency in our moral thinking is likely, in the long run, to lead us to hold better views on ethical issues.

What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good.

There can be no justification for choosing any part of that which one knows to be evil.

We sin because we see sin as a bargain. We unconsciously calculate that it’s worth it, that it pays.

I'm not saying you did the wrong thing. I'm not even saying it wasn't something I'd thought of doing, myself. But even if it was the just thing to do, or the fitting thing, it still wasn't the right thing.

Law has no skin, reason has no nostrils.

The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others.