Moral Quotes

4082 Moral quotes by 2158 unique authors

A theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible. — Thomas Nagel
I do not see why the axiom of Prudence should not be questioned, when it conflicts with present inclination, on a ground similar to that… — Henry Sidgwick
A person may be greedy, envious, cowardly, cold, ungenerous, unkind, vain, or conceited, but behave perfectly by a monumental act of the will. — Thomas Nagel
The inclusion of consequences in the conception of what we have done is an acknowledgement that we are parts of the world, but the paradoxical… — Thomas Nagel
Once we see an aspect of what we or someone else does as something that happens, we lose our grip on the idea that it… — Thomas Nagel
The external view [of agency] forces itself on us at the same time that we resist it. One way this occurs is through the gradual… — Thomas Nagel
What is left over if I subtract the fact that my arms goes up from the fact that I raise my arm? — Ludwig Wittgenstein
...once the cards are dealt we turn them up in turn, and make two piles each, one red, one black; the winner has the biggest… — G. E. M. Anscombe
Those emotive theorists who said that the function of moral utterance was to evince emotion would... have been correct if they had substituted the indefinite… — Alasdair MacIntyre
[S]uppose the mind of [a] friend of humanity were clouded over with his own grief, extinguishing all sympathetic participation in the fate of others; he… — Immanuel Kant
Normativity, I believe, is very different from motivating force. Neither includes, or implies, the other. Other animals can be motivated by their desires and beliefs.… — Derek Parfit
While reasons are provided by the facts,...rationality...depends instead on our beliefs. [...] [I]f I believe falsely that my hotel is on fire, it may be… — Derek Parfit
I've decided to do it, for the pure and simple reason that I just think it's the right thing to do. — Charlie Crist
It appears evident, therefore, that those actions only can truly be called virtuous, and deserving of moral approbation, which the agent believed to be right,… — Thomas Reid
must acknowledge, that to act properly is much more valuable than to think justly or reason acutely. — Thomas Reid
In every case, we ought to act that part towards another, which we would judge to be right in him to act toward us, if… — Thomas Reid
Common sense doesn't have the last word in ethics or anywhere else, but it has, as J. L. Austin said about ordinary language, the first… — Thomas Nagel
My selective memory of what drinking was like told me that standing at the bar in a pub, on a summer's evening with a long,… — Eric Clapton
Man was destined for society. His morality, therefore, was to be formed to this object. He was endowed with a sense of right and wrong… — Thomas Jefferson
We are born of risen apes, not fallen angels. — Robert Ardrey
Of all your associations, it is your relationship with God, your Heavenly Father, who is the source of your moral power. — D. Todd Christofferson
Good moral actions are not enough. Everything in us, from the very depths, must be cleansed and reordered... — Thomas Merton
Humanity may destroy the possibilities for life on earth unless the freedom and power that we have acquired are channeled in new creative directions by… — Steven Clark Rockefeller
You are not saintly (a good person) because an organization says so, but rather because you stay connected to the divinity of your origination. You… — Wayne Dyer
The bearing of arms is the essential medium through which the individual asserts both his social power and his participation in politics as a responsible… — Unknown Author

Who Wrote These Moral Quotes

2,158 authors contributed a total of 4,082 Moral Quotes, led by these top contributors: