Morality

Explore 49 quotes about Morality

Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.

Edmund Burke

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Topic

Decline of democracy Democracy Freedom Moral decline Morality

Author

Edmund Burke

Source

Letters of Edmund Burke

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1777 1770s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. A Letter to John Farr and John Harris, Esqs., Sheriffs of the City of Bristol, on the Affairs of America. London: J. Dodsley, 3 Apr. 1777.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "A Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol on the Affairs of America." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.

Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

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Topic

Custom and convention Self-righteousness Hypocrisy Moral theory Morality

Author

Charlotte Brontë

Source

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

English

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Brontë, Charlotte, [published as Currer Bell]. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, 2nd ed. London: Service and Patton, 1848, preface.

Current Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Penguin Classics, 2006, preface to the 2nd ed.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

God

Jeremiah 31:33

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Topic

God's covenant Right and wrong Morality

Speaker

God

Source

Jeremiah The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

570 BC 570s BC 6th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Jeremiah 31:33).

Actions receive their tincture from the times,
And as they change, are virtues made or crimes.

Daniel Defoe

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Topic

Custom and convention Moral relativism Moral theory Morality

Author

Daniel Defoe

Source

A Hymn to the Pillory

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1703 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Defoe, Daniel. A Hymn to the Pillory. London: 1703, I. 29.

The end justifies the means.

Hermann Busenbaum

More information about this quote

Topic

End justifies the means Justifications and rationales Moral relativism Moral theory Morality

Author

Hermann Busenbaum

Source

Medulla Theologiae Moralis

Genre

Religious literature Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1650 1650s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Busenbaum, Hermann. Medulla Theologiae Moralis. 1650.

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

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Topic

Power of thought Thoughts Moral relativism Moral theory Morality

Speaker

Hamlet

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Hamlet

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1616 1610s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 2, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 2.

The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.

Jeremy Bentham

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Topic

Utilitarianism Political theory Politics Moral theory Morality

Author

Jeremy Bentham

Source

Memoirs of Bentham The Works of Jeremy Bentham

Language

English

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Bentham, Jeremy. "Memoirs of Bentham." The Works of Jeremy Bentham, edited by John Bowring. Vol. 10, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1843.

Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.

Oliver Goldsmith

Read The Traveller at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Moral decline Morality Capitalism

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Traveller

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1764 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. The Traveller; or, a Prospect of Society. London: John Newbery, 1764.

Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them.

Rope

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Topic

Right and wrong Good and evil Morality Middle class values

Speaker

Brandon

Actor

John Dall

Source

Rope

Genre

Psychological thriller (film) Thriller (film) Psychological thriller Thriller

Language

English

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rope. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Transatlantic Pictures, 1948.

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.

G.K. Chesterton

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral theory Can vs. should Morality

Author

G.K. Chesterton

Source

A Short History of England

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Chesterton, G.K. "A Short History of England." The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton. Vol. 20, Ignatius Press, 2002. Originally published by William Clowes and Sons, 1917.

Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution.

Learned Hand

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural law Moral universalism Moral theory Morality

Speaker

Learned Hand

Source

Speeches of Learned Hand

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hand, Learned. "A Pledge of Allegiance." I Am An American Day. 20 May 1945, Central Park, New York City, NY, USA.

There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, — the Law of Nature and of Nations.

Edmund Burke

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural law Law Moral universalism Moral theory Morality

Author

Edmund Burke

Source

Speech in General Reply; First Day: Wednesday May 28, 1794.

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1794 1790s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech in General Reply; First Day: Wednesday, May 28, 1794." Speeches in the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esquire. 28 May 1794, Westminster Hall, Westminster, London, UK.

That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

Francis Hutcheson

An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue

More information about this quote

Topic

Utilitarianism Moral theory Morality

Author

Francis Hutcheson

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

English

Time

1725 1720s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hutcheson, Francis. An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. London: J. Darby, 1726, treatise 2, sect. 3, subsect. 8.

Current Citation

Hutcheson, Francis. An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, edited by Wolfgang Leidhold. Liberty Fund, 2008.

The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced.

Aldous Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

End justifies the means Moral theory Morality

Author

Aldous Huxley

Source

Ends and Means

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Aldous. Ends and Means (an Enquiry Into the Nature of Ideals and Into the Methods Employed for Their Realization). Chatto & Windus, 1937, ch. 1.

Maybe there ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue, they's just what people does. Some things folks do is nice and some ain't so nice, and that's all any man's got a right to say.

The Grapes of Wrath

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More information about this quote

Topic

Judging others Moral relativism Morality

Speaker

Jim Casy

Actor

John Carradine

Source

The Grapes of Wrath

Medium

Film

Genre

Drama (film) Drama

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Grapes of Wrath. Directed by John Ford. 20th Century Fox, 1940.

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.

Oliver Goldsmith

Read The Deserted Village at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral decline Morality Economic inequality Working class

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Deserted Village

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1770 1770s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. The Deserted Village. London: W. Griffin, 1770, l. 51.

Be good and you will be lonesome.

Mark Twain

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

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Topic

Holding to one's principles Loneliness Moral principles Morality

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

Genre

Travel writing

Language

English

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Twain, Mark. Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. Hartford: The American Publishing Company, 1897, frontispiece.

We do not look in great cities for our best morality.

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

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Topic

Cities Morality

Speaker

Edmund Bertram

Author

Jane Austen

Source

Mansfield Park

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1814 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park. Vol. 1, London: Thomas Egerton, 1814, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 9.

If not becoming, don’t do it. If not true, don’t say it. Let these be your fixed principles.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Lying Personal integrity Morality

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 12.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 12.

No one ever suddenly became depraved.

Juvenal

Satires

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Topic

Depravity Moral theory Morality Character

Author

Juvenal

Source

Satires

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

127 120s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Juvenal. Satirae [Satires]. c. 127, satire 2.

Current Citation

Juvenal. The Satires, translated by Niall Rudd. Oxford University Press, 2008, satire 2.