#ethics

You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This is why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'Appear by all means.' And when Florus inquired, 'But why do not you appear?' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the question.' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from forgetting what manner of man he is. ↗

— Epictetus

#integrity #path #stoicism #men

It's the love of right lures men to wrong. ↗

— Kim Stanley Robinson

#love

Where there is not community, trust, respect, ethical behavior are difficult for the young to learn and for the old to maintain. ↗

— Robert K. Greenleaf

#elderly #ethics #respect #trust #youth

What I'm asking you to entertain is that there is nothing we need to believe on insufficient evidence in order to have deeply ethical and spiritual lives. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

Hence the sterile, uninspiring futility of a great many theoretical discussions of ethics, and the resentment which many people feel towards such discussions: moral principles remain in their minds as floating abstractions, offering them a goal they cannot grasp and demanding that they reshape their souls in its image, thus leaving them with a burden of undefinable moral guilt. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#ethics #philosophy #romantic

For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then? ↗

— George Orwell

#logic #metaphysics #ontology #philosophy #psychology

There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more. ↗

— Woody Allen

#bad

When the stakes are this high- when calling God by the right name can make the difference between eternal happiness and eternal suffering, it is impossible to respect the beliefs of others who don't believe as you do. ↗

— Sam Harris

#atheism #belief #ethics #humanism #religion

Sometimes it isn't easy to be sane, smart, and responsible. Sometimes it sucks. Sucks wang. Camel wang. But that doesn't turn wrong into right or stupid into smart. ↗

— Jim Butcher

#responsibility #right-and-wrong #ethics

...there are people who try to look as if they are doing a good and thorough job, and then there are the people who actually damn well do it, for its own sake. ↗

— John D. MacDonald

#thoroughness #work-ethic #ethics