Morality Quotes – 45 Sayings About Ethics, Virtue, Values and Moral Behavior

Are you looking for inspirational moral quotes and the best sayings about ethical values? Then you've come to the right place! Morals, ethics, virtue and values - these concepts are the pillars that not only support and shape our individual existence, but also our social interaction.

And all of them have in common that we should do the right thing - for example in dealing with our fellow human beings, with animals, with the planet or generally in critical moments. And even if moral guidelines do not rule out immoral actions, they are a kind of guide for us to live according to clear principles and to master our personal path to integrity.

In this article, I would like to give you a collection of the best short wisdom, aphorisms and quotes about moral behavior. Just let them inspire you. Let's go!

My please: "Keep in mind that many of the quotes about morality und ethics have been translated into English from other languages. I cannot guarantee that it is the original quote in each case. Therefore, double check them before you share them. If you like and share any of the quotes in the internet, please link this elaborately created collection. Thank you for your support!"

45 quotes about morals, ethics and personal values

Morality is generally understood to mean the Rules, values and norms that are recognized in a society. This means that behavior is moral that people generally consider to be right - and that is permitted by law.

But Not everything that is recognized and permitted is morally right. Slavery, for example, was also accepted and legal - and today we look at it with contempt. So there is a Difference between morality and law.

Moral concepts always differ somewhat from person to person. But in my opinion, morality is fundamentally what feels right in your heart. Human values such as honesty, compassion, decency, respect, a sense of responsibility and justice characterize moral action.

Use the following sayings, wisdom and quotes, to become aware of your personal moral principles - and perhaps also to define who you want to be.

Moral Quotes 1 - 10

1. "Food comes first and then morality." (Bertolt Brecht)
2. "The ethical cannot grow on selfish soil." (Albert Schweitzer)
3. "Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike." (Oscar Wilde)
4. "Fear is the mother of morality." (Friedrich Nietzsche)
5. "Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set." (Francis Bacon)
6. "We often demand virtue from others so that our faults can spread more comfortably." (Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach)
7. "There are many religions, but there is only one morality." (John Ruskin)
8. "Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners." (Laurence Sterne)
9. "Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." (Gilbert Keith Chesterton)
10. "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." (Mahatma Gandhi)

Tip: Animal suffering in the Factory farming and their own meat consumption are often justified with the argument that Morality is subjective. But is that really the case? And would that be a logical reason to eat animals? I answer these questions in the linked article.

Moral Quotes 11 - 20

11. "Compassion is the basis of morality." (Arthur Schopenhauer)
12. "When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier." (Roy E. Disney)
13. "A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives—of approving of some and disapproving of others." (Charles Darwin)
14. "Moral grounds are always the last refuge of people who have no sense of beauty." (Oscar Wilde)
15. "Self discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another." (Joseph Addison)
16. "About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after." (Ernest Hemingway)
17. "To practice fidelity is virtue, to experience fidelity is happiness." (Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach)
18. "Vegetarianism serves as the criterion by which we know that the pursuit of moral perfection on the part of humanity is genuine and sincere." (Leo Tolstoy)
19. "True happiness is doing good." (Socrates)
20. "Courage is virtue which champions the cause of right." (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

Good to know: We also face moral issues in environmental protection. The Environmental Ethics answers ethical questions about how humans interact with non-human nature. You can find out everything you need to know about this in the linked blog article.

Moral Quotes 21 - 30

21. "Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice." (Baruch Spinoza)
22. "If you want to get pleasure out of life, you must attach value to the world." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
23. "The unconscious is much more moral than the conscious would like to admit." (Sigmund Freud)
24. "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." (Isaac Asimov)
25. "Force always attracts men of low morality." (Albert Einstein)
26. "Endurance is the foundation of all virtues." (Honore de Balzac)
27. "A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true." (Socrates)
28. "The world would be in better shape if people would take the same pains in the practice of the simplest moral laws as they exert in intellectualizing over the most subtle moral questions." (Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach)
29. "A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help." (Albert Schweitzer)
30. "The moral code which was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for our children." (Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach)

Moral Quotes 31 - 40

31. "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes." (Oscar Wilde)
32. "Good moral character is the first essential in a man." (George Washington)
33. "It is better to have high principles to follow than even higher ones to disregard." (Albert Schweitzer)
34. "At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love." (Martin Luther King)
35. "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." (Henry David Thoreau)
36. "It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." (Abraham Lincoln)
37. "A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." (Dwight D. Eisenhower)
38. "It is curious – curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare." (Mark Twain)
39. "In general, one must have value oneself in order freely and willingly to acknowledge value in another." (Arthur Schopenhauer)
40. "I believe that the vegetarians, with their prescription to eat less and more simply, are of more use than all the new moral systems taken together." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Moral Quotes 41 - 45

41. "Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals." (Henry L. Mencken)
42. "He who does no evil has done no good." (Karl Heinrich Waggerl)
43. "Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality." (Mahatma Gandhi)
44. "Of the two, I prefer those who render vice lovable to those who degrade virtue." (Joseph Joubert)
45. "Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality." (Frank Herbert)

Can you think of any other sayings about ethics and morals that are missing from this collection of quotes? Then I look forward to your suggestions in the comments!

FAQ: Frequently asked questions about morals, ethics and values

Use the best moral quotes for inspiration!

We have now taken a short journey through the world of morals, ethics, virtues and values. The quotes from this article can heighten our awareness of the principles that guide our actions and that Foundation of a just and empathetic society form.

Use them as a constant source of inspiration. Inspire yourself and other people to do the sameto do the things that feel right.

Finally, I would like to further contributions which are strongly linked to ethical values and moral behavior:

• Good deeds in everyday life - what you can do
• Vegan for people - Why veganism doesn't just help animals
• All 30 human rights from the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
• Stopping world hunger - What each of us can do

Do you have any questions, suggestions or your own experiences with morals and ethics that you would like to share? Can you think of any other inspiring sayings? In any case, I look forward to your comment!

Stay inspired,

PS: Have you ever heard of cognitive dissonance heard? It is a unpleasant emotional statewhich arises, for example, when we have to admit that we have behaved incorrectly, even though we are actually convinced that we always behave correctly. I am happy to explain everything about this psychological phenomenon in the linked blog post.