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

Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal.

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

People must have righteous principals in the first, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions.

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

The truth is, hardly any of us have ethical energy enough for more than one really inflexible point of honor.

The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.

Well, I thought the deal was, when you went to work for the government you weren’t supposed to make money!

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

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.

There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information – the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

That old law about ‚an eye for an eye‘ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

Morality which depends upon the helplessness of a man or woman has not much to recommend it. Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.

I think you have a moral responsibility when you’ve been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently.

Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

It’s that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so ‚don’t fuss, dear; get on with it.‘

We are justified in enforcing good morals, for they belong to all mankind; but we are not justified in enforcing good manners, for good manners always mean our own manners.

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.

Man’s true nature being lost, everything becomes his nature; as, his true good being lost, everything becomes his good.

Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.

Where do the evils like corruption arise from? It comes from the never-ending greed. The fight for corruption-free ethical society will have to be fought against this greed and replace it with ‚what can I give‘ spirit.

Honor is simply the morality of superior men.

I think that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but the Bible also teaches that pride is a sin, jealousy is a sin, and hate is a sin, evil thoughts are a sin. So I don’t think that homosexuality should be chosen as the overwhelming sin that we are doing today.

Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty.

And whether you’re an honest man, or whether you’re a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.

As we know, while our species remains alive, everybody has the sacred duty to be optimistic. Ethically, any other behaviour wouldn’t be admissible.

We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.

We did not choose to be the guardians of the gate, but there is no one else.

There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention.

In the last analysis, even the best man is evil: in the last analysis, even the best woman is bad.

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.

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

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

Since the world has existed, there has been injustice. But it is one world, the more so as it becomes smaller, more accessible. There is just no question that there is more obligation that those who have should give to those who have nothing.

Honor and shame from no condition rise. Act well your part: there all the honor lies.

One of the great attractions of patriotism – it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.

The humanists‘ replacement for religion: work really hard and somehow you’ll either save yourself or you’ll be immortal. Of course, that’s a total joke, and our progress is nothing. There may be progress in technology but there’s no ethical progress whatsoever.

All that I know most surely about morality and obligations I owe to football.

To terrify children with the image of hell… to consider women an inferior creation. Is that good for the world?

Only a man’s character is the real criterion of worth.

People who truly understand what is meant by self-reliance know they must live their lives by ethics rather than rules.

Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.

The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.

Justice… is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.

Honor is the reward of virtue.

Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated.

Morality is a private and costly luxury.

The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.

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.

No public man can be just a little crooked.

To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.

I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confidence that any of you had in me. And I’ll never avoid a controversial issue.

Note, besides, that it is no more immoral to directly rob citizens than to slip indirect taxes into the price of goods that they cannot do without.

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.

You cannot be in a position of power and destroy the life of another person.

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

I do think there should be some regulations on AI.