Tracy Chapman Quotes

It is true that [the] present-day young are idealistic. But theirs is the easy idealism that condemns abuses and pushes aside any thought that would reveal the difficulties and complexities inherent in righting wrongs. They are not willing to do the hard work by which alone the world can be improved. Hearing what they say, and seeing what they do, one suspects that one of the main functions of the young’s idealism is finding good reasons for doing bad things.

The scientist is not responsible for the laws of nature. It is his job to find out how these laws operate. It is the scientist's job to find the ways in which these laws can serve the human will. However, it is not the scientist's job to determine whether a hydrogen bomb should be constructed, whether it should be used, or how it should be used. This responsibility rests with the American people and with their chosen representatives.

It's very hard to turn your back once you're aware of what's going on, and you're aware of the injustices, and you're aware of the civilian casualties. It's much easier if you have no idea and you've never seen it.

I don't think that artists of any kind would or could sacrifice their artistic freedom by being more responsible with their influence on people, especially young people.

No one should be forced to violate one's conscience, nor should anyone be forced out of service of the common good because there are some things their conscience tells them they cannot do.

In the Old Testament, it says that if you have the power to do something good, then you have to do it. You're not to avoid helping somebody in their time of need.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.

Ethics is a fluid term ...It's the standards by which a civilized society lives.

The individual is not accountable to society for his actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but himself.

Moral principle is a looser bond than pecuniary interest.

If I have written too polemically, it is only because of the passionate concern that we consider because it is too late whether we truly know what we are doing.

…unjust and ethically unacceptable.

It is easy to sacrifice the substantial interests of society by a strict adherence to ordinary rules.

We wrestle with the political issues of who has stewardship over life.

We are responsible not only for what we do but also for what we could have prevented.

Consciences keep silence more often than they should, that's why laws were created.

Scientists, therefore, are responsible for their research, not only intellectually but also morally. This responsibility has become an important issue in many of today's sciences, but especially so in physics, in which the results of quantum mechanics and relativity theory have opened up two very different paths for physicists to pursue. They may lead us - to put it in extreme terms -- to the Buddha or to the Bomb, and it is up to each of us to decide which path to take.

My skills were acquired not only in a cloistered academic environment but also in a commercial jungle … Although our culture approves and even honors these practices, to me they were always abhorrent. Hence, I looked forward to the time when I could use these skills not for myself but for socially constructive ends.

I do not know whether I have helped or harmed my fellow citizens. History can probably be the only judge of that.

While I bore the titel of "Honorable Judge", I felt less than honorable and moroe like a complicit tool of an unjust system.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.

There are doctors who help people who have done bad things; there are lawyers who defend bad people. I don't think it's unique to my profession.

I'm constantly having to check my conscience about what I'm writing and the responsibility of what I'm saying.

I would consider it to be immoral to take a paycheck when the people in the federal government are not.

Scientists are not delinquents. Our work has changed the conditions in which men live, but the use made of these changes is the problem of governments, not of scientists.