Henry James Quotes

Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.

I'm just doing what my conscience asks me to do.

You have principles. You test them as accurately as you can. Eventually, they might break down.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.

Moral liberty is the power of following, in all circumstances, our sense of right and wrong, or of acting in conformity to our reflecting and moral principles, without being controlled by any contrary principles.

What most men call their conscience is imaginary virtue switching left or right according to self-interest.

Fear is the mother of morality.

I do what I think is right.

It's so hard to know what to do when one wishes earnestly to do right.

What a man calls his 'conscience' is merely the mental action that follows a sentimental reaction after too much wine or love.

You just have to do what you know is right.

I don't think any of us know how we would react until we were put in a situation where we have to do something bad or do something good. I think I'd like to believe I'd act like a decent human being, but I'm realistic to know I don't know.

Ethics are not necessarily to do with being law-abiding. I am very interested in the moral path, doing the right thing.

Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.

A man's conscience and his judgment is the same thing, and, as the judgment, so also the conscience may be erroneous.

If the Soviet Government orders me to act against my conscience, I do not obey …. Conscience is above the law. No law which is against the conscience can bind.

To see the line between being good and bad is really thin. It's not easy for anyone, not the manager, the players or the staff.

I consider myself a fairly ethical individual while I do have a lot of dichotomies within me. We're all victims of our own hypocrisy at times.

Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics.

Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any methods.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and when people start getting it confused, that means they need to sit down with some real people.

You must always do what you feel is right.

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

Without ethics, man has no future. This is to say, mankind without them cannot be itself. Ethics determine choices and actions and suggest difficult priorities.

Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.