Theodor W. Adorno Quotes

To steal from a brother or sister is evil. To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral.

There is no right in acting.

I don't believe so much in good and evil.

The risk of the Holocaust is not that it will be forgotten, but that it will be embalmed and surrounded by monuments and used to absolve all future sins.

There were certain questions about the foundations of morals that advances in science all threaten to make more complicated.

It is a sin not to do what one is capable of doing.

The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.

I do not hold with those who think it is all right to do whatever you want so long as it doesn't hurt anyone. Who's to be the judge of that?

If the Barbarians are destroyed, who will we then be able to blame for the bad things?

People want to know if I have a moral standpoint that they should be picking up on, and the truth is, I don't. I don't want people to think that I'm trying to tell them to feel a certain way. I think that's cheap filmmaking.

And sometimes you have to go above the written law, I believe.

To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure paths must be followed.

We always see abhorrent behavior and say why, but then we get mad when somebody tries to answer.

We must differentiate between guilt and duty. The soldier on the front, like the common man, who does his duty everywhere, should not be held responsible for the actions of a few who also called themselves Germans.

Readers, like writers, are essentially amoral. Arm's length will never do. We want to get closer.

There is a group that argues that we cannot criticize others because our ancestors did bad things.

What is done cannot be effaced. We have to act upon a moral field prepared for us ...

Intelligence work has one moral law—it is justified by results.

The grievances of which we complain, be assured, sir, are not imaginary, but real—not local, but universal—not occasional, but continual, everyday matter-of-fact things and have become, to the disgrace of our common country, matters of history.

Slavery has beene permitted by the Supreeme Governour of all things for time Immemorial, and whenever I am Convinced as you are, that its Wrong in the Sight of God, I will Immediately Desist, but while its not only allowed by the Supreeme Governour of all States but by all the Nations of Europe...I cannot thinke this State ought to Decline the trade.

The ends do not justify the means. The means are the ends.

If you say morality is just what you like, you lose the metaphysical level of what in the history of philosophy is called 'categorical imperative.'

Just as we demand that people take responsibility for their actions, we as a society must take responsibility for fighting injustice.

My earnestness at the injustices I witnessed when I was writing 'Random Family' may have been my gravest reportorial offense during the early years of reporting. When I discuss the book with students, they often ask me how I could 'stand by' in the face of so much suffering; the egregiousness wasn't my powerlessness but my surprise.

There are no moral victories.