« All Morality Quotes · Gilbert K. Chesterton's Page
Morality Quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton
- Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.
- 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…
- It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have enough good men to curse them.
- The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice.
- Truth is sacred; and if you tell the truth too often nobody will believe it.
- Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.
- There'd be a lot less scandal if people didn't idealize sin and pose as sinners.
- All men thirst to confess their crimes more than tired beasts thirst for water; but they naturally object to confessing them while other people, who…
- Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol,…
- I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.
- To the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sun is really a sun; to the humble man, and to the humble man…
- The voice of the special rebels and prophets, recommending discontent, should, as I have said, sound now and then suddenly, like a trumpet. But the…
- All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the…
- If we want to give poor people soap we must set out deliberately to give them luxuries. If we will not make them rich enough…
- The world will very soon be divided, unless I am mistaken, into those who still go on explaining our success, and those somewhat more intelligent…
- What we call emancipation is always and of necessity simply the free choice of the soul between one set of limitations and another.
- There are some desires that are not desirable.
- Modern broad-mindedness benefits the rich; and benefits nobody else.
- It is the main earthly business of a human being to make his home, and the immediate surroundings of his home, as symbolic and significant…
- It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things forbidden.
- A strange fanaticism fills our time: the fanatical hatred of morality, especially of Christian morality.
- Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular…
- If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals it is the modern strengthening of minor morals.
- To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
- Morality did not begin by one man saying to another, "I will not hit you if you do not hit me"; there is no trace…
More Morality Quotes
- Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave… — Aristotle
- The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for… — Aristotle
- Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. — Marcus Aurelius
- We do not look in our great cities for our best morality. — Jane Austen
- Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully. — Richard Bach
- Morals are built on religious faith. Virtue is built on morality and influences a culture. — Michele Bachmann
- Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord Acton
- The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern. — Lord Acton
- Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced… — Mikhail Bakunin
- Morality is a private and costly luxury. — Henry Adams
- Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. — John Adams
- Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases. — John Adams