ethical direction Quotes

We give advice, we do not inspire conduct.

What a nation needs more than anything else is not a Christian ruler in the palace but a Christian prophet within earshot.

Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates, though one often perceives irregularities in directing one's course by it, still one must try to follow its direction.

There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.

The compass spins between heaven and hell, let your soul be your pilot, let your soul guide you.

...when we say we're looking for a spiritual adviser, we're really looking for someone to tell us what to do with our bodies. Decisions of the flesh. We forget to learn from pleasure as well as pain.

Religion means goal and way, politics implies end and means. The political end is recognizable by the fact that it may be attained--in success--and its attainment is historically recorded. The religious goal remains, even in man's highest experiences, that which simply provides direction on the mortal way; it never enters into historical consummation.

The art of poetry is to touch the passions, and its duty to lead them on the side of virtue.

Zeal without humanity is like a ship without a rudder, liable to be stranded at any moment.

Knowledge itself is a neutral tool that can be used for good or evil. Wisdom, in contrast, always directs us toward happiness. The task of education must be to stimulate and unleash the wisdom that lies dormant in the lives of all young people. This is not a forced process, like pressing something into a preformed mold, but rather drawing out the potential which exists within.

We should not pray for God to be on our side, but pray that we may be on God's side.

Young people want to learn, they are thirsty for knowledge, they want to understand and remember. The main thing is to teach them where not to go. Oppression, not to go; dictatorship, not to go; racism and prejudice, absolutely not to go. This is a moral plan [for society].

The Unknown is an ocean. What is conscience? The compass of the Unknown.