#oral

Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but, leave him when he is wrong. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#leadership #loyalty #moral-courage #courage

If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#inspirational #moral-courage #public-opinion #religion #courage

You cannot have the right to do what is wrong! ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#means-justifying-the-ends #moral-courage #courage

My opposition to Interviews lies in the fact that offhand answers have little value or grace of expression, and that such oral give and take helps to perpetuate the decline of the English language. ↗

— James Thurber

#decline #english #english language #expression #fact

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. ↗

— Albert Einstein

#death

You ask 'Are you a man or a demon?' Neither, I say. I have woken up, and the rest of you are sleeping, and that is the only difference between us. ↗

— Aravind Adiga

#family #morality #death

I was not much afraid of punishment, I was only afraid of disgrace.But that I feared more than death, more than crime, more than anything in the world. I should have rejoiced if the earth had swallowed me up and stifled me in the abyss. But my invincible sense of shame prevailed over everything . It was my shame that made me impudent, and the more wickedly I behaved the bolder my fear of confession made me. I saw nothing but the horror of being found out, of being publicly proclaimed, to my face, as a thief, as a liar, and slanderer. ↗

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

#death

We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#cruelty #ethics #ethics-in-religion #morality #morality-without-religion

She stepped toward Anna. “I can get you a night with an accomplished male whore or a virginal schoolboy.” Coral’s eyes widened and seemed to flame. “Famous libertines or ragpickers off the street. One very special man or ten complete strangers. Dark men, red men, yellow men, men you’ve only dreamed of in the black of night, lonely in your bed, snug under your covers. Whatever you long for. Whatever you desire. Whatever you crave. You have only to ask me.” Anna stared at Coral like a mesmerized mouse before a particularly beautiful snake. ↗

— Elizabeth Hoyt

#coral #seductive #beauty

We middles see the world in shades of grey rather than in the clear blacks and whites of committed animal activists and their equally vociferous opponents ↗

— Hal Herzog

#morals #philosophy #equality