#oral

Triviality is evil - triviality, that is, in the form of consciousness and mind that adapts itself to the world as it is, that obeys the principle of inertia. And this principle of inertia truly is what is radically evil. ↗

— Theodor W. Adorno

#inertia #morality #triviality #metaphysics

Hermes smiled. "I knew a boy once ... oh, younger than you by far. A mere baby, really." Here we go again, George said. Always talking about himself. Quiet! Martha snapped. Do you want to get set on vibrate? Hermes ignored them. "One night, when this boy's mother wasn't watching, he sneaked out of their cave and stole some cattle that belonged to Apollo." "Did he get blasted to tiny pieces?" I asked. "Hmm ... no. Actually, everything turned out quite well. To make up for his theft, the boy gave Apollo an instrument he'd invented-a lyre. Apollo was so enchanted with the music that he forgot all about being angry." So what's the moral?" "The moral?" Hermes asked. "Goodness, you act like it's a fable. It's a true story. Does truth have a moral?" "Um ..." "How about this: stealing is not always bad?" "I don't think my mom would like that moral." Rats are delicious, suggested George. What does that have to do with the story? Martha demanded. Nothing, George said. But I'm hungry. "I've got it," Hermes said. "Young people don't always do what they're told, but if they can pull it off and do something wonderful, sometimes they escape punishment. How's that? ↗

— Rick Riordan

#george #hermes #humor #martha #moral

We care about moral issues, nobility, decency, happiness, goodness—the issues that matter in the real world, but which can only be addressed, in their purity, in fiction. ↗

— Orson Scott Card

#literature #morality #on-fiction #nobility

We believe that only government has the capacity--not to mention the political and moral responsibility--to promote the general welfare. Father Kramer as quoted in Sweet Charity? ↗

— Janet Poppendieck

#general-welfare #government-programs #moral-responsibility #public-service #food

Think about that for a moment. They died for you. Now take a good look at the life you're living and tell me: Did they do the right thing? ↗

— Mira Grant

#life #moral #right #value #wall

Moral justification is a powerful disengagement mechanism. Destructive conduct is made personally and socially acceptable by portraying it in the service of moral ends. This is why most appeals against violent means usually fall on deaf ears. ↗

— Albert Bandura

#against #appeals #conduct #deaf #destructive

And Americans realized that native people are still here, that they have a moral standing, a legal standing. ↗

— Dennis Banks

#legal #moral #native #people #realized

So I'm just waiting until one party or the other actually gets a moral compass and a backbone. ↗

— John Perry Barlow

#backbone #compass #gets #i #just