Aldous Huxley Quotes

Whether gods exist or not, there is no way to get absolute certainty about ethics. Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can.

It's easy to get into the grey zone [of ethics].

doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right

When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.

If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.

What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?

Only when the voice of duty is silent, or when it has already spoken, may we allowably think of the consequences of a particular action.

If I do not respond to some situation, my conscience kills me. I believe in permissible violence, not necessarily non-violence.

It seems that if you put people on paper and move them through time, you cannot help but talk about ethics, because the ethical realm exists nowhere if not here: in the consequences of human actions as they unfold in time, and the multiple interpretive possibility of those actions.

The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never made up their minds to be either good or evil.

To remove or not to remove? That is the question.

Take one, and you cannot take the other. But neither path is safe. Which way would you walk — the way of hard truths or the way of fine lies?

Zoroaster said, when in doubt abstain; but this does not always apply. At cards, when in doubt take the trick.

That's a stupid question,' said Malachi. 'Because he didn't warn him. He didn't warn anyone.' 'No, it's a philosophical question,' Kearns corrected him. 'Which makes it useless, not stupid.

Does that not sound odd to you? When God decides who should live or die, he is immoral, When you decide who should live or die, it's your moral right. There was a pin-drop silence.

Right conduct can never, except by some rare accident, be promoted by ignorance or hindered by knowledge.

But they who are unconcerned about the consequences of their actions are not therefore unconcerned about their actions.

When in doubt, shoot the wizard.

I'm not saying you did the wrong thing. I'm not even saying it wasn't something I'd thought of doing, myself. But even if it was the just thing to do, or the fitting thing, it still wasn't the right thing.

The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.

You can't be neutral on a moving train.

The end never justifies the means because there is no end; there are only means.

Between yea and nay, how much difference is there?

Conscience warns us not to sink our cleats too deeply in mortal turf, which is so dangerously artificial.