Michael Shermer Quotes

So I think ethics is the broader thing that's less focused on prohibitions and is more perhaps looking at principles and questions and ideas about how to live your life.

I consider theology to be the rhetoric of morals.

All things are moral; and in their boundless changes have an unceasing reference to spiritual nature.

We have next to consider the formal definition of virtue.

That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral.

Many are really virtuous who cannot explain what virtue is . . . But the powers themselves in reality perform their several operations with sufficient constancy and uniformity in persons of good health whatever their opinions be about them . . .

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather.

There is too much animal courage in society and not sufficient moral courage.

Do you know what morals are? Morals are an obedience to rules that people laid down to help you live among them.

The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.

Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right.

Honesty is the cornerstone of character.

That we occasionally violate our own stated moral code does not imply that we are insincere in espousing that code.

Cowards can never be moral.

I have yet to meet a man as fond of high moral conduct as he is of outward appearances.

Irrespective of whether we are believers or agnostics, whether we believe in God or karma, moral ethics is a code which everyone is able to pursue.

The content of scientific theory itself offers no moral foundation for the personal conduct of life.

The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others.

The Moral Sense teaches us what is right, and how to avoid it-when unpopular.

You can't slice up morals.

...virtue is not merely a state in conformity with the right principle, but one that implies the right principle; and the right principle in moral conduct is prudence.

There is a material advancement; we desire it. There is, also, a moral grandeur; we hold fast to it.

Morals were restrictive, but they were grounded on human experience.

It is always so much easier to be moral than it is to be spiritual.

Your Integrity is more important than your immediate Life.