Richard M. Weaver Quotes

There's less of a connection for a lot of people between the technical decisions we make and the ethical ramifications we are responsible for.

Should I be the one to play God? We're both about the same age, but we grew up in different neighborhoods.

What a massive responsibility, being a moral creature

The extent of one man's guilt may be defined by how much of it is experienced by the party he injured.

It is not enough to be well-intentioned; one must strive to put those intentions into action in a capable way. One must consider the effect his actions will have on others. Looked at like this, to persist in ignorance is itself dishonorable.

The most profound and serious indication of the moral implications underlying the ecological problem is the lack of respect for life evident in many of the patterns of environmental pollution.

Children will, in my dream, be taught that laziness and narcissism are at the very root of human evil, and why this is so. . . . They will come to know that the natural tendency of the individual in a group is to forfeit his or her ethical judgment to the leader, and that this tendency should be resisted. And they will finally see it as each individual's responsibility to continually examine himself or herself for laziness and narcissism and then to purify themselves accordingly.

Every time we witness an act that we feel to be unjust and do not act, we become a party to injustice.

The responsibilities of someone in a more free and open society are, again obviously, greater than those who may pay some cost for honesty and integrity.

Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.

I do feel a responsibility to address things that are problematic, but I don't have to go out of my way to do that.

Responsibility is something higher than my family, my country, my firm, my success. Responsibility to the order of Being, where, and only where, they will be properly judged.

A warrior takes responsibility for his acts, for the most trivial of acts. An average man acts out his thoughts, and never takes responsibility for what he does.

Our actions are in our own hands, but the consequences of them are not. Remember that, my dear, and think twice before you do anything.

There are no innocent bystanders.

Knowledge is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil.

Every man has obligations which belong to his station. Duties extend beyond obligations, and direct the affections, desires, and intentions, as well as the actions.

Those commands of superiors which are contrary to our first duties are not to be obeyed.

If we are to become the masters of science, not its slaves, we must learn to use its immense power to good purpose. The machine itself has neither mind nor soul nor moral sense. Only man has been endowed with these godlike attributes. Every age has its destined duty. Ours is to nurture an awareness of those divine attributes and a sense of responsibility in giving them expression.

Any utterance is a major assumption of responsibility, and the assumption that one can avoid that responsibility by doing something to language itself is one of the chief considerations of the Phaedrus.

She had looked her duty courageously in the face and found it a friend - as duty ever is when we meet it frankly.

Our deeds are like children that are born to us; they live and act apart from our own will. Nay, children may be strangled, but deeds never: they have an indestructible life both in and out of our consciousness.

One mistake, one brief lapse of my new found judgement-that's all it took to unravel everything. What a massive responsibility, being a moral creature.

I think it's the responsibility of every human being, not just those who wear the identity of poet, activist, voter, religious person... it's the responsibility of every person. Our responsibility is to use our intelligence as clearly and coherently as we possibly can.

With freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk has not ended yet.