Ethics Quotations
	The following quotations have been gathered over the past months. If you have suggestions for additions, please email them to Greg Feldmeth.
	The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Theodore Parker Morality [or ethics] is not a subject; it is a life put to the test in dozens of moments.  Paul Tillich Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.  William Butler Yeats The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops – no, but the kind of man the country turns out.  Ralph Waldo Emerson Life is the sum of your choices. Albert Camus You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Harper Lee Be the change you wish to see in the world. Mohandas Gandhi Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. C.S. Lewis Nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as you ever can. John Wesley To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage. Confucius The greatest and most important problems in life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.Carl Jung A good conscience is a continual Christmas. Benjamin Franklin That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. Frances Hutcheson (1725) Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe - the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. Immanuel Kant (1788) Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something. Henry David Thoreau Know thyself. Plato The purest treasure mortal times afford is spotless reputation; that away men are but gilded loam or painted clay. William Shakespeare (Richard II) You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad. Adlai Stevenson The time is always right to do what is right. Martin Luther King, Jr. I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. Abraham Lincoln Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr.  It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them. Mark Twain  Worry more about your character than your reputation. Character is what you are, reputation merely what others think you are. John Wooden What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. Ralph Waldo Emerson On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson Integrity is not something that grownups have and adolescents can aspire to. Integrity is something that all of us, at all ages, are constantly striving for. Harold Kushner It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare. Mark Twain  If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. Martin Luther King, Jr. Are right and wrong convertible terms, dependent upon popular opinion? William Lloyd Garrison It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. Henry David Thoreau We live in a system that espouses merit, equality, and a level playing field, but exalts those with wealth, power, and celebrity, however gained. Derrick Bell I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for. Joseph Addison This administration intends to be candid about its errors. For as a wise man once said, `An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.’ John F. Kennedy You don’t have to be sick to get better. Michael Josephson Children need models rather than critics. Michael Joubert In the days ahead we must not consider it unpatriotic to raise certain basic questions about our national character.  We must begin to ask, 'Why are there forty million poor people in a nation overflowing with such unbelievable affluence? Why has our nation placed itself in the position of being God's military agent on earth...? Why have we substituted the arrogant undertaking of policing the whole world for the high task of putting our own house in order? Martin Luther King, Jr. If you punish a child for being naughty, and reward him for being good, he will do right merely for the sake of the reward; and when he goes out into the world and finds that goodness is not always rewarded, nor wickedness always punished, he will grow into a man who only thinks about how he may get on in the world, and does right or wrong according as he finds advantage to himself. Immanuel Kant There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. Beverly Sills Ethics is obedience to the unenforceable. Lord John Fletcher Moulton None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone. Ralph Waldo Emerson Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Aristotle The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. Charles DuBos Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another. Charles Caleb Colton All ethical people strive to choose "right" over "easy" when confronted by situations that force them to choose one or the other. Derrick Bell First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.  Epictetus Power tends to confuse itself with virtue, and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God's favor. J. William Fulbright I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong. Abraham Lincoln Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is a beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is life, fight for it! Mother Teresa One's philosophy is not best expressed in words;it is expressed in the choices one makes...In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. Eleanor Roosevelt How can we expect young people to be rooted in things such as character, morality and honesty? How is one supposed to be at once an arrow soaring skyward and an oak planted firmly in the ground? The meritocratic culture hones strivers on every aspect of their lives save one — how to cultivate character. David Brooks, Bobos in Paradise The best portion of a good man's life is the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. William Wordsworth Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. Albert Einstein Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. Plato Thus conscience does make cowards of us all. William Shakespeare Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it. Albert Einstein