Action
wAs
we believe, so we are. All actions that we take in life, except for
instinctive acts, are based on certain conscious and unconscious
beliefs and presuppositions. Consequently, it is important that we
understand the relationship between our actions and our
beliefs.~ Bhagaved Gita
Action is indeed the sole medium of expression for ethics.
Affection Most people would rather give than get affection.--Aristotle Anger Anyone can become angry that is easy, but to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way that is not easy.--Aristotle Atheist If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose
to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the
pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous
atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose
every deed is foul, foul, foul. Atrocities Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. --Voltaire
Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of
reference. I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. --St. Augustine The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with
Becoming The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get Bedrooms The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation. Pierre Elliot Trudeau Beginning A well begun is half ended. --Plato Belief One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety- For what is the best choice, for each individual is the highest it is possible for him to achieve. --Aristotle Business The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.
Caring To care for anyone else enough to make their problems Certainties If a man begins with certainties, he shall end in doubts. But if he is content to being with doubts, he shall end in certainties. Changing The seen is the changing. The unseen is the unchanging. Plato Everything flows and nothing stays. Character Character is fate. Heraclitus To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character. Aristotle Character is the pattern of virtues and vices revealed in the life and relationships of an individual Mike Martin Chastity Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.
Choosing What sort of philosophy one chooses depends, therefore, on Life is the sum of your
choices.
Comfort We find comfort among those who agree with us, growth among those who don't Frank Clark
Compassion Every moment spent expressing compassion for another is a holy moment. Dr. Richard Carlson Condemnation Tis much more prudence to acquit two persons, though actually guilty, than to pass sentence of condemnation on one that is virtuous and innocent. Voltaire. Conformity We do not observe compliance to authority merely because it is a transient cultural or historical phenomenon, but because it flows from the logical necessities of social organization. If we are to have social life in any organized form—that is to say, if we are to have society—then we must have members of society amenable to organizational imperatives. Conscience I know what conscience is, to begin with. It is not what you
The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy
to While
conscience is our friend, all is at peace; however Conspiracy Would it really do to find out that our game is not serious, that our enemies are friends, and that the good thrives on evil? society as we know it seems to be a tacit conspiracy to keep this hushed up for fear that the contest will otherwise cease. Alan Watts Contentment He who is not contended with what he has, would not be contended with what he would like to have. Socrates
Convictions Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies. Frederich Nietzsche Creator All I have seen teaches me to trust the He who has God in his heart carries Paradise with him wherever he goes.Emerson
Death There
is no death, only a change of worlds. Decisions
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able
to decide.
If one does not know
to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
Shelving hard
decisions is the least ethical course.
When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.— Max Lerner, American editor and political columnist (1902-1992)
Delusion Nowadays everyone in the world is deluded about right and wrong, and confused about benefit and harm. Because so many people share this sickness, no one perceives that it is a sickness. Lao Zi Dignity "The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life." Einstein Doing Right Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. Mark Twain I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law. Aristotle Doubt If a man begins with certainties, he shall end in doubts. But if he is content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. Francis Bacon To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection. Jules Henri Poincare Duty Duty is the necessity of an action executed from respect for [moral] law. Immanuel Kant Dying A reason for dying is also a good reason for living. Camus Education Education is the art of making man ethical. Hegel, 1821 Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead. Aristotle Plato says man needs to be so trained from his youth up as to find pleasures and pain in the right objects. This is what sound education means. Aristotle Nichomachean Ethics The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life. Plato The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead." -- Aristotle The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. Aristotle Those children who have been most chastised seldom make the best men. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, Education - Teachers Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach. Aristotle Enemy The efficiency of the truly national leader consists
Environment Humans ought to preserve for themselves an environment
adequate to match their capacity to wonder. Holmes Rolston III
--Duties to Endangered Species Equality Democracy, for example, arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.--Aristotle The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before
the law. So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other. Johnson (1709-1784)
Ethical Codes A person who
is fundamentally honest doesn't need a code of Ethical Man A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help. Albert Schweitzer
Ethical Truths There are no ethical truths; there are just clarifications of particular ethical problems. Take advantage of these clarifications and work out your own existence. Donald Kalish
Ethics Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives. — Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist and philosopher (1905-1982) Ethics is at the heart of who we are. Louise Walkup Evolution Through evolution humans have become the ethical animal Conead Waddington Excellence We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle No man ever reached to excellence in any one art or profession without having passed through the slow and painful process of study and preparation. --Horace Eye for an Eye An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. Gandhi (motion picture) Faith But doubt is as crucial to faith as darkness is to light. Fault of Ethics The great fault of all ethics hitherto has been that they believed themselves to have to deal only with the relations of man to man. In reality, however, the question is what is his attitude to the world and al life that comes within his reach. Albert Schweitzer Fear We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; Flesh For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. St. Paul's letter to the Galatians, 5:17 Free Choice We need to teach the next generation of children from
Freedom Who then is free? The wise man who can command himself. Horace No man is free who cannot command himself. Pythagoras I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of
Freedom means choosing
your burden. Friend What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. Aristotle Without friends, no one would choose to live, though they had all
other goods. Though we love both the truth and our friends [namely Plato], piety requires us to honor the truth first. Aristotle A true friend never asks another to do what is wrong. Anon. Genius There was never a genius without a tincture of insanity. Gift of grace: It is not that you are worthy of the gift, but it is he gift which is worthy of your Creator" J. H. Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, Discourse 13: "Mysteries of Nature and of Grace." God Without God, everything is permissible. Fydor Dostoevsky in The Grand Inquisitor I cannot forgive Descartes; in all his philosophy he did his best to dispense with God. But he could not avoid making Him set the world in motion with a flip of His thumb; after that he had no more use for God. Blaise Pascal --Pensees He who has God in his heart carries Paradise with him wherever he goes. Saint Ignatius I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within! Socrates Good and Bad Nature and history do not agree with our conceptions of good and bad; they define good as that which survives and bad as that which goes under; and the universe has no prejudice in favor of Christ as against Genghis Khan. Will and Ariel Durant Good and Just We must become just by doing just acts. It is by doing good that we become good. In the world of knowledge, the idea of good appears last of all, and
is seen only with effort.
The line separating good and evil passes not through states,
Goodness The higher the prestige of wealth and the wealthy, the lower that of goodness and good men will be. Plato Growth We find comfort among those who agree with us, growth among those who don't Frank Clark
Guilt In law a man is
guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if
he only thinks of doing so. Habits Theory
A favorite theory is a possession for life. William
Hazlitt - Characteristics
1837
It is easy to perform a good action, but not easy to acquire a settled habit of performing such actions. Aristotle We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act
but a habit. So it is a matter of no little importance what sort of habits we form from the earliest age - it makes a vast difference, or rather all the difference in the world. Aristotle Happiness For one swallow does not make the summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed or happy.--Aristotle Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.--Aristotle Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul. Democritus 420 B.C. The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the
foundation of morals and legislation. Jeremy Bentham Heal Vain is the word of a philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man. For just as there is no profit in medicine if it does no expel the diseases of the body, so there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body, so there is no profit in philosophy either if it does not expel the suffering of the mind. Epicurus Heart Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you'll be Hell
The hottest places in hell are reserved
for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their
neutrality. Dante Helping Mankind [M]y greatest hope...that I have done something to help human
It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them. Mark Twain Hope Hope is a waking dream.--Aristotle
How and Why He who has a strong enough why to live for, can bear almost Humane An intelligence that is not humane is the most dangerous thing in the world. Ashley Montagu Ignorance Ignorance is not innocence, but is the promoter of crime. Immoral Even in the outwardly most respectable of us there is a terribly bestial and immoral type of desire, which manifests itself particularly in dreams. do you think I'm talking sense, and do you agree? Plato Inflicting Suffering There slowly grew up in me an unshakable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another living creature unless there is some unavoidable necessity for it, and that we ought all of us to feel what a horrible thing it is to cause suffering and death out of mere thoughtlessness. Albert Schweitzer
Illusions The demand to give up the illusions about our condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions. Karl Marx Inner The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great. Meister Eckhart Invisible It is by invisible hands that we are tortured most. Nietzsche Inward Work The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great. Meister Eckhart Jobs All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind. --Aristotle Justice Justice is truth in action. Disraeli The sentiment of justice is so natural, so universally acquired by
all mankind that is seems to be independent of all law, all party, all
religion. Voltaire Kant Understanding is the knowledge of the general. Judgment is the application of the general to the particular. Reason is the power of understanding the connection between the general and the particular. ~ Emmanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education If education is to develop human nature so that it may attain the object of its being, it must involve the exercise of judgment. ~ Emmanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education Judgment is the faculty of subsuming under rules; that is, of distinguishing whether something does or does not stand under a given rule . . . judgment is a peculiar talent which can be practiced only, and cannot be taught . . . although admirable in understanding [an individual] may be wanting in natural power of judgment. He may comprehend the universal in abstracto, and yet not be able to distinguish whether a case in concreto comes under it ~ Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason The will of children . . . must not be broken, but merely bent in such a way that it may yield to natural obstacles. ~ Emmanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education Kindness Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Plato (c.427-347 B.C.) Knowledge For knowledge is itself power. Francis Bacon --Of Heresies It is the habit of mankind to mistake familiarity for accurate knowledge. "I think; therefore I am." Rene Descartes "The only secure knowledge is that I exist." Rene Descartes Labor I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. --St. Augustine - Law Wherever the law ends, tyranny begins. John Locke. Let all the laws be clear, uniform and precise. To interpret laws is almost always to corrupt them. Voltaire. I think we all have moral obligations to obey just laws. On the other hand, I think that we have moral obligations to disobey unjust laws because non-cooperation with evil is just as much a moral obligation as cooperation with good. Martin Luther King, Jr. Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish. Thomas Fuller. We must not make a scarecrow of the law; setting it up to fear the birds of prey and let it keep one shape till custom make it their perch and not their terror. Shakespeare. The Constitution is the supreme law of our land and it governs our actions as citizens. Only the laws of God, which govern our consciences, are superior to it. President Gerald Ford (the Nixon Pardon) Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views Learning For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by
doing them. Much learning does not bring understanding. Heraclites We cannot learn without pain.--Aristotle To be learning something is the greatest of pleasures. Aristotle (The origin and development of poetry) Liberty Liberty means
responsibility. That’s why most men dread it.
Lie An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an Life The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he Lie There is no greater lie than a truth misunderstood. William James Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive! Limits It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits to our abilities do not exist. -- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Locke Curiosity in children is but an appetite after knowledge ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education The natural temper of children disposes their minds to wander. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education Each man's mind has some peculiarity, as well as his face, that distinguishes him from all others; and there are possibly scarce two children who can be conducted by exactly the same method. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Lust Look at what Christ said about sin. The sins of the flesh. He said
that a man who had looked after a woman lustfully had sinned as much as
the man who had seduced her. How absurd! If a man in good health does
not experience some kind of sexual reaction when he sees an attractive
woman, there is something wrong with him. Paul said some wicked things,
but Christ started it. Madman The usual distinction between sanity and insanity is a false one. We are all insane; the difference between Napoleon and a madman who believes he is Napoleon is a difference in degree, not in kind; both are acting on a limited set of assumptions. Colin Wilson Man It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I havebeen searching for evidence which could support this." - Bertrand Russell Marriage By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. Socrates Mercy Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. Adam Smith Mill The proper business of a University is . . . not to tell us . . .
what we ought to believe, and make us accept the belief as a duty; but
to give us information and training, and help us to form our own beliefs
in a manner worthy of intelligent beings. Money It is a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money. Albert Camus Moral Man is not only often much more immoral than he believes, but also much more moral than he thinks. Sigmund Freud Morality Morality is
stronger than tyrants. The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life. Einstein Moral Codes A little knowledge of history stresses the variability of moral codes, and concludes that they are negligible because they differ in time and place, and sometimes contradict each other. A larger knowledge stresses the universality of moral codes, and concludes to their necessity. Will Durant Morality We recognize that morality differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved habits. Ruth Benedict 1933 It must not be forgotten that although a high standard of morality gives a slight or no advantage to each individual man and his children over the other men of the same tribe, yet an advancement in the standard of morality will certainly give an immense advantage to one tribe over another. Charles Darvin Morality is a fixed law, but each of us must be his Moving the world Let him who would move the world, first move himself. Socrates Neutrality The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. Dante Nobility of man They that deny a God destroy man's nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and, if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature. Francis Bacon --Of Atheism To have a purpose for which one will do almost anything except betray a friend, that is the final patent of nobility, the last formula of the superman. Frederich Nietzsche Obeying Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.--Aristotle For, as among the powers in man's society, the greater authority is obeyed in preference to the lesser, so must God above all. Saint Augustine Obeying orders I was there to follow orders, not to think. John Dean (Watergate testimony) I carried pout my orders....Where would we have been if everyone had thought things out in those days? Adolf Eichmann Opinions Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of
thought. Pain The art of life is the art of avoiding pain. Thomas Jefferson
Passion Nothing great in the world has been We make war that we may live in peace.--Aristotle Perfect Happiness No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be
perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till
all are happy. Herbert Spencer Philosophy Philosophy is at once the most sublime and the
most trivial of human pursuits. "Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned." Unknown
wPhilosophy
is unique in that its progress can be measured by the kind of
questions it asks rather than by the success of its answers.
Hector Hawton from Philosophy for Pleasure chapter 1, page 12 Pleasure Speed provides the one genuinely modern pleasure. Aldous Huxley The man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. Thoreau There is no such thing as pure pleasure some anxiety always goes with it. Ovid Prayers Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us. Socrates Principles These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others. Groucho Marx In matters of principle stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current. Thomas Jefferson Principles are only tools in God's hands, soon to be thrown away as unserviceable Dietrich Bonhoeffer Prudence Prudence is the knowledge of things to be sought, and those to be shunned. Cicero Purpose Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless. Bertrand Russell, atheist
Rational Animal It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have Relationships There can be genuine consensual relationships involving abuse. Religion True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.
Religious Man A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one
If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. - Albert Einstein, letter to an atheist (1954), quoted in Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffman During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution, human fantasy created gods in man's own image who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate influence, the phenomenal world. - Albert Einstein, quoted in: 2000 Years of Disbelief, James Haught What I feel is right is right. What I feel is wrong is wrong Jean Jacques Rousseau All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what
is established. The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong. Carl Jung Right Thing to do The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing
to do. The hard Right and Wrong The simple-minded use of the notions "right or wrong" is one of the chief obstacles to the progress of understanding. Alfred North Whitehead It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with
Satisfaction It is better to be a human being dissatisfied, than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. J. S. Mill
Scientific Truth A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. Max Planck --Scientific Autobiography Seeing Things We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Silence I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure
Self-Sufficient We regard something as self-sufficient when all by itself it makes a life choiceworthy and lacking nothing; and that is what we think happiness does. Aristotle Sense The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong. Carl Jung
Simplicity Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead Sin Pleasure is the bait of sin. Plato Soul The soul is not a physical entity, but instead refers to
What can you ever really know of other people's souls - Speech The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is Study The love of study , a passion which derives fresh vigor from enjoyment, supplies each day and hour with a perpetual source of independent and rational pleasure. Gibbon (1737 - 1794) To say that the reason for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying the season for happiness is not yet or that it is no more. Epicurus Suffering For just as there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body, so there is no profit in philosophy either if it does not expel the suffering of the mind. Epicurus Suicide "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy." Ablert Camus
Surpassing oneself A man's life is interesting primarily when he had failed ?
Truth A truth that disheartens because it is true is of more There is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish
Talking Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. --Plato Teaching Everything we do as teachers has moral overtones. Theory
A favorite theory is a possession for life. William
Hazlitt - Characteristics
1837
Thinking Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself. --Plato My dear Crito, why should we pay so much attention to what "most people" think? The really reasonable people, who have more claim to be considered, will believe that the facts are exactly as they are. Plato A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices . William James Few men think, yet
all will have opinions. There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Shakespeare - Hamlet I think therefore I am Descartes jokes
Torture It is by invisible hands that we are tortured most. Frederich Nietzsche. Troubles Men in masses are gripped by personal troubles, but they are not aware of their true meaning and source. C. Wright Mills Truth Truth is not determined by majority vote. Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it and There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind Truth may indeed be in the eye of the beholder, as is beauty, but the
eye profits both from experience and from education. Experience requires
the services of scholarship, knowledge, and reflection to define,
refine, and redefine the eye's evolving judgment of what is true, and
what is beautiful. Unexamined Life The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates Utility By the principle of utility is meant that principle which
approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the
tendency it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the
party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other
words to promote or to oppose that happiness.
Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but, disguised
Virtue I tell you that the virtue is not given by money, but that
If the will be set on virtue, there will be no practice of wickedness. Confucius Analects, bk. 2:0 Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. C. S. Lewis Perfect is the virtue that accords with the Constant Mean. Confucius, The Analects War We make war that we may live in peace. Western Philosophy All of Western philosophy is but a series of footnotes on the
work of Plato
Willpower Lack of willpower has caused more failure than lack of
Wisdom Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young, nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. for no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. Epicurus.
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