All men are moral. Only their neighbors are not.
Young men are sadly degenerate nowadays.
You cannot have Liberty in this World without what you call Moral Virtue, and you cannot have Moral Virtue without the Slavery of that half of the Human Race who hate what you call Moral Virtue.
Without freedom there can be no morality.[Ohne Freiheit kann es keine Sittlichkeit geben.]
When we attempt to universalize or absolutize it, the ethical standpoint makes it impossible to exist, for we cannot live for a day without destroying the life of some other creature.
When law becomes despotic, morals are relaxed, and vice versa.[Quand le despotisme est dans les lois, la liberté se trouve dans les mœurs, et vice versa.]
What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.[Τὸ τῷ σμήνει μὴ συμφέρον οὐδὲ τῇ μελίσσῃ συμφέρει.]
What is morality? Judgment to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price. But where does one find it?
We think about mortality so little, these days, except to flail hysterically at it with trendy forms of exercise and high-fiber cereals and nicotine patches.
We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one which we preach, but do not practice, and another which we practice, but seldom preach.
We don’t punish people because they are evil, but because they make bad choices, choices that are bad for the herd. Morality isn’t heaven-sent or eternal, just a set of rules that benefit the herd.
We do not look in great cities for our best morality.
