Joseph Wood Krutch Quotes

A man's acts are usually right, but his reasons seldom are.

My only fear is doing something contrary to human nature - the wrong thing, the wrong way, or at the wrong time.

Morality is the Science of harmonious relations between intelligent beings.

Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit--or a mask.

An educated person must learn to act justly, beginning, first of all, with his thoughts, then later in his deeds. That is what it means to be educated.

Rationality tied to moral decency is the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.

Over the last few years, I've been focusing on questions having to do with the self, and questions having to do with morality. I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from.

All human beings search for either reasons to be good, or excuses to be bad.

If you ask anyone, what is morality based on? These are the two factors that always come out: One is reciprocity, … a sense of fairness, and the other one is empathy and compassion.

Morals were restrictive, but they were grounded on human experience.

Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it.

You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank as to praise him for playing by the rules.

There are people who think that honesty is always the best policy. This is a superstition. There are times when the appearance of it is worth six of it.

Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good, and evil, in the conversation, and society of mankind. Good, and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions; which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different.

There is no wrong time to do the right thing.

In ethics, prudence is not an important virtue, but in the world it is almost everything.

Everyone behaves badly--given the chance.

Sin in this country has been always said to be rather calculating than impulsive.

Men think they may justly do that for which they have a precedent.

There can be no question of holding forth on ethics. I have seen people behave badly with great morality and I note every day that integrity has no need of rules

The beast in us must be[78] wheedled: ethic is necessary, that we may not be torn to pieces.

We assume therefore that moral virtue is the quality of acting in the best way in relation to pleasures and pains, and that vice is the opposite.

Civilization is that mode of conduct which points out to man the path of duty.

He who would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by those of reason.

Refrain from doing ill; for one all powerful reason, lest our children should copy our misdeeds; we are all too prone to imitate whatever is base and depraved.