The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Philosophical literature9 quotes
What I say is that "just" or "right" means nothing but what is to the interest of the stronger party. — Thrasymachus · 375 BCThe masters have been done away with; the morality of the common man has triumphed. — Friedrich Nietzsche · 1887Censorship is crucial for preserving morals but useless for restoring them. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual. — Friedrich Nietzsche · 1882The end justifies the means. — Hermann Busenbaum · 1650The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced. — Aldous Huxley · 1937All 9 quotes →Political literature4 quotes
Censorship is crucial for preserving morals but useless for restoring them. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762By hating vices too much, they come to love men too little. — Edmund Burke · 1790Starvation, and not sin, is the parent of modern crime. — Oscar Wilde · 1891Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1835Religious literature4 quotes
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. — God · 570 BCThe end justifies the means. — Hermann Busenbaum · 1650The Lord says in the gospel; "I am the Truth." He does not say "I am custom." Therefore, when the truth is made manifest, custom must give way to truth. — Libosus of Vaga · 400Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! — Isaiah 5:20 · 681 BCDrama2 quotes
It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money. — Mike McDermott · 1998Maybe there ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue, they's just what people does. Some things folks do is nice and some ain't so nice, and that's all any man's got a right to say. — Jim Casy · 1940Drama (film)2 quotes
It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money. — Mike McDermott · 1998Maybe there ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue, they's just what people does. Some things folks do is nice and some ain't so nice, and that's all any man's got a right to say. — Jim Casy · 1940Travel writing2 quotes
Prosperity is the best protector of principle. — Mark Twain · 1897Be good and you will be lonesome. — Mark Twain · 1897Comedy (play)1 quote
It is public scandal that constitutes offence, and to sin in secret is not to sin at all. — Moliere · 1669Coming of age story1 quote
Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns. — Charlotte Bronte · 1848Crime drama1 quote
The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced…fair. — Two-Face/Harvey Dent · 2008Crime drama (film)1 quote
The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced…fair. — Two-Face/Harvey Dent · 2008Historical literature1 quote
Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. — Edward Gibbon · 1781Political speech1 quote
There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, — the Law of Nature and of Nations. — Edmund Burke · 1794Psychological drama1 quote
I am beyond their timid lying morality, and so I am beyond caring. — Captain Benjamin L. Willard · 1979Psychological drama (film)1 quote
I am beyond their timid lying morality, and so I am beyond caring. — Captain Benjamin L. Willard · 1979Psychological thriller1 quote
Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them. — Brandon · 1948Sociology1 quote
The men, women, and children who compose a society at any time are the unconscious depositaries and transmitters of the mores. They inherited them without knowing it; they are molding them unconsciously; they will transmit them involuntarily. The people cannot make the mores. They are made by them. — William Graham Sumner · 1906Superhero1 quote
The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced…fair. — Two-Face/Harvey Dent · 2008Superhero (film)1 quote
The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced…fair. — Two-Face/Harvey Dent · 2008Thriller1 quote
Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them. — Brandon · 1948Thriller (film)1 quote
Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them. — Brandon · 1948Tragedy (play)1 quote
There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. — William Shakespeare · 1616War1 quote
I am beyond their timid lying morality, and so I am beyond caring. — Captain Benjamin L. Willard · 1979War (film)1 quote
I am beyond their timid lying morality, and so I am beyond caring. — Captain Benjamin L. Willard · 1979