Ethics and virtue
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
— Plato, Apology
“The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
— Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.”
— Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”
— Spinoza, Ethics
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“The best revenge is not to copy him that wronged you.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Great truths do not take hold of the hearts of the masses.”
— Zhuang Zhou, Chuang Tzu Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer
“God is with those who fear him and do good deeds.”
— Quran, The Qur'an
“Mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle.”
— Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
“Truth is omnipotent.”
— William Godwin, Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions, and Discoveries
“Virtue can only flourish amongst equals.”
— Mary Wollstonecraft, A vindication of the rights of men, in a letter to the Right Honourable Edmund B
“The man who is truly good and sensible bears all fortunes becomingly, and always does what is noblest under the circumstances.”
— Aristotle, The Nicomachean ethics of Aristotle
“We must cultivate our garden.”
— Voltaire, Candide
“The foundation of Legislation was that utility which produced the greatest happiness to the greatest number.”
— Jeremy Bentham, Not Paul, but Jesus
“Philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways. What is crucial, however, is to change it.”
— Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
“The beginning is the most important part of any work.”
— Plato, The Republic
“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.”
— Kant, Critique of Practical Reason
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”
— John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
“Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a Universal Law of Nature.”
— Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
“No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.”
— Plato, Apology
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
“Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — First Series
“The direction in which education starts a man, will determine his future life.”
— Plato, The Republic
“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales)
“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.”
— Rousseau, The social contract & discourses
“Morality is not properly the doctrine how we should make ourselves happy, but how we should become worthy of happiness.”
— Kant, Critique of Practical Reason
“The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Seneca's Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency
“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
— Plato, Phaedo
“Duty! Thou sublime and mighty name that dost embrace nothing charming or insinuating, but requirest submission.”
— Kant, Critique of Practical Reason
“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — Second Series
“A great man is always willing to be little.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — First Series
“Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity.”
— Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population
“Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, that is the teaching of the Awakened.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, It will not come nigh unto me.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“The superior man is catholic and no partisan. The mean man is partisan and not catholic.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts—this is the teaching of the Awakened.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“All men seek happiness. This is without exception.”
— Pascal, Pascal's Pensées
“Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“The cautious seldom err.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Adapt yourself to the things which your destiny has given you: love those with whom it is your lot to live, and love them with sincere affection.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Look inward. Within is the fountain of Good. Dig constantly and it will ever well forth.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales)
“Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself.”
— Spinoza, Ethics — Part 5
“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”
— Plato, The Republic
“He who fears death will never act as becomes a living man.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Of Peace of Mind