Democritus Quotes

'Tis better to suffer wrong than do it.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it.

To refrain from all injustice renders us also humane.

It is better to suffer injustice than to do it.

So you would rather suffer an injustice than do an injustice?

What is the most precious thing in the world? I see now that it is the knowledge that you have no part in injustice. Injustice is stronger than you, it always was and always will be, but let it not be done through you.

History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.

The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged.

Injustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

Evil is important for us to look at, in my opinion, only insofar as it makes us look at our own actions and make us wonder, 'Am I participating in some kind of human evil that I really should stop doing?'

Two wrongs may not make a right, but a thousand wrongs make a writer.

What is character? It is that quality of man which is going to make a man, in an hour of strain, do the just and, if possible, the generous thing.

Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.

Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.

He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it.

You just have to do what you know is right.

Many people think that virtue consists of severity towards others.

Virtue is a positive quality developed by taking a firm stand for the right in temptation, or by the suffering endured in consequence of wrongdoing.

A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.

Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.

He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them are abomination …

Do not allow your hatred for others to make you swerve to wrongdoing and turn you away from justice.

[Objecting to administration policies:] Truth is on the scaffold, wrong is on the throne.