Andrew Vachss Quotes

The power of choosing good and evil is within the reach of all.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

To what extent is any given man morally responsible for any given act? We do not know.

No intelligent man believes that anybody ever willingly errs or willingly does base and evil deeds; they are well aware that all who do base and evil things do them unwillingly.

I believe firmly that in making ethical decisions, man has the prerogative of true freedom of choice.

The distinction between good and evil is meaningless if one does not have the freedom to choose between them.

You are to do the choosing here and now during this exciting and wonderful time on earth. Moral agency, the freedom to choose, is certainly one of God's greatest gifts next to life itself. We have the honorable right to choose; therefore, we need to choose the right. This is not always easy.

One might rationally argue that individual human beings should be free choose what moral behavior they approve of, and which they don't, subject to the constraints of the law.

The act of willing this or that, of choosing among various courses of conduct, is central in the realm of ethics.

How can an act done under compulsion have any moral element in it, seeing that what is moral is the free act of an intelligent being?

No one is born evil; it's just the choices that they make.

There is no rational creature which is not capable both of good and evil

The more...we consider man to be free, the less we can say, that he can neglect to use reason, or choose evil in preference to good

Morality depends on individual freedom, and it requires some sense to know where to draw the line.

Morality pertains only to the sphere of man's free will - only to those actions which are open to his choice.

Without that freedom to sin there is also no freedom to love.

Eve didn't choose to eat the apple. She was tempted by the serpent." "Yes," I argue, thoughts coming out half-formed. "But...she didn't have to take a bite. She chose to.

There is no slave but the creature that wills against its Creator.

But 'Thou mayest!'! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win

God's designs may be frequent justification for our actions, but it is we, the self-made men, who take the credit.

What influences our behavior, and what our level of responsibility is, are very complex issues. And anytime we try to make this simplistic, we don't serve people well.

This means that to man God gave a degree of free will.

I think God gives every one of us our own will, and unfortunately, some people choose to do evil things with it.

Is there one specific source that determines correct morality and everybody should follow that? Or should individuals come up with following that source or not depending on their situation?