Quotations - Morality

America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville.

Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. ~ Edmund Burke.

Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom. ~ Patrick Henry.

Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" Vanity asks the question, "Is it popular?" But, conscience asks the question, "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

If we do not help a man in trouble, it is as if we caused the trouble. ~ Nachman Of Bratslav.

Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men. ~ George Patton.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. ~ Edmund Burke.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. ~ C. S. Lewis.

On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him. ~ Siddhartha Buddha.

Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense. ~ Robert Heinlein.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back. ~ Abigail Van Buren.

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. ~ Dante Alighieri.

The fool who has not sense to discriminate between what is good and what is bad is well nigh as dangerous as the man who does discriminate and yet chooses the bad. ~ Theodore Roosevelt.

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

To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. ~ Confucius.

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. ~ C. S. Lewis.

You can always trust the Americans. In the end they will do the right thing, after they have eliminated all the other possibilities. ~ Winston Churchill.