I think most defense attorneys know, to some extent, their clients are guilty.

It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected.

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

Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good… Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.

I know of only one duty, and that is to love.

Because of lack of moral principle, human life becomes worthless. Moral principle, truthfulness, is a key factor. If we lose that, then there is no future.

Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

Trouble brews when we steal from the poor and give to the rich.

Justice is what is established; and thus all our established laws will necessarily be regarded as just without examination, since they are established.

If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.

Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete.

To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage, or of principle.

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.

It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous.

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

You don’t send people to prison on the basis of what other people imagine, or on the basis of media sound bites like ‚shooting an unarmed child,‘ when that ‚child‘ was beating him bloody.

The dropping of bombs on people – isn’t that terrorism?

I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.

I do think there should be some regulations on AI.

The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give everyone else his due.

When I was president, I announced and I still maintain that I can live with Roe v. Wade. I did everything I possibly could as president under that ruling, which I don’t think ought to be changed, to minimize the need for abortions. I think every abortion is a result of a horrible series of errors on the part of people involved.

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

It is right to give every man his due.

A leader who doesn’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

I’m just going to say it: I’m pro-guilt. Guilt is good. Guilt helps us stay on track because it’s about our behavior. It occurs when we compare something we’ve done – or failed to do – with our personal values.

One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him.

Ought we not to ask the media to agree among themselves a voluntary code of conduct, under which they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists‘ morale or their cause while the hijack lasted.

I believe in the Golden Rule – The Man with the Gold… Rules.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.

The law is reason, free from passion.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that’s my religion.

We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles.

In my view, the only thing worse than a rock star is a rock star with a conscience.

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

Laws should be interpreted in a liberal sense so that their intention may be preserved.

Algorithms diminish public safety in this country. They ask us to pretend that lengthy arrest records and violent crimes don’t matter. They ask police to scoop up the bad guys only for the courts to immediately release them. They turn us into a bad joke.

War is evil, but it is often the lesser evil.

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

Act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.

For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.

There’s no difference between one’s killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing, or even worse.

To know the laws is not to memorize their letter but to grasp their full force and meaning.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

Laws, like houses, lean on one another.

Great bodies of people are never responsible for what they do.

It means, people who are in high and responsible positions, if they go against righteousness, righteousness itself will get transformed into a destroyer.

There is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right; and, again, making all crime mean and ugly.

It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.

There is a real danger that computers will develop intelligence and take over. We urgently need to develop direct connections to the brain so that computers can add to human intelligence rather than be in opposition.

Ingratitude is the essence of vileness.

If a person is successful, we imagine they are probably also ethical, conscientious and deserving of their good fortune. This obscures the fact that many people who get ahead have done so by doing less than moral actions, which they cleverly disguise from view.

I worked in ad sales. I would call up local businesses and try to get them to buy ads in the paper. The whole time, I felt like I was just scamming people.

If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.

Justice Scalia and I served together on the D.C. Circuit. So his votes are not surprising to me. What I like about him is that he’s very funny and very smart.

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.

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