Alan Lightman Quotes

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

If people use common sense and their own guiding moral compass, I think they'll generally stay out of trouble.

I think evil is very relative.

It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.

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.

Before you do anything, you need to know if it's right or wrong.

Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.

It is seldom very hard to do one's duty when one knows what it is, but it is often exceedingly difficult to find this out.

Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.

Righteousness is easy in retrospect.

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.

Conscience without judgment is superstition.

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

Grant, then, to Your servant an understanding mind to judge Your people, to distinguish between good and bad; for who can judge this vast people of yours?

To judge … any man … simply from his own point of view, is weak and illogical. History judges the man from its point of view. It condemns or applauds the point of view itself. The point of view of a malefactor is not to excuse robbery and murder. Nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in favor of the evil-doer.

Judgment is not upon all occasions required, but discretion always is.

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.

You have to follow your moral compass: it's a good guide of telling you what is right and wrong.

One needs to know what is right and what is wrong.

When somethin's not right it's wrong.

Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.

Never presume yours is a better morality.

Prudence is the knowledge of things to be sought, and those to be shunned.

Wisdom is an affair of values, and of value judgments. It is intelligent conduct of human affairs.

It's easy to judge, to think we know for certain the right thing to do. Sometimes, it just isn't so clear.