"To be beneficent when we can is a……" — Immanuel Kant
"To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides this, there are many minds so sympathetically constituted that, without any other motive of vanity or self-interest, they find a pleasure in spreading joy around them, and can take delight in the satisfaction of others so far as it is their own work. But I maintain that in such a case an action of this kind, however proper, however amiable it may be, has nevertheless no true moral worth, but is on a level with other inclinations. . . . For the maxim lacks the moral import, namely, that such actions be done from duty, not from inclination."
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Immanuel Kant
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229 Quotes by Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant has 229 quotes on this site.
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I shall never forget my mother, for it was she who planted and nurtured the first seeds of good within…
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Prudence approaches, conscience accuses.
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The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has…
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Laws always lose in energy what the government gains in extent.
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Suicide is not abominable because God prohibits it; God prohibits it because it is abominable.
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...as soon as we examine suicide from the standpoint of religion we immediately see it in its true light. We…
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What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?
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All human knowledge thus begins with intuitions, proceeds thence to concepts, and ends with ideas.
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What are the aims which are at the same time duties? They are perfecting of ourselves, the happiness of others.
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Reason must approach nature with the view, indeed, of receiving information from it, not, however, in the character of a…
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Honesty is better than any policy.
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Man desired concord; but nature knows better what is good for his species; she desires discord. Man wants to live…
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More Action Quotes
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Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.
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Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless.
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Well begun is half done.
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Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.
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We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.
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