Ethics
Explore wisdom and insights from Ethics
"Character is not formed in a week or a month."
Aristotle
Attributed
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
Aristotle
"Man is by nature a social animal."
Aristotle
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Aristotle
Attributed
"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom."
Aristotle
Attributed
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Aristotle
Attributed
"It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom."
Aristotle
Attributed
"All things are full of gods."
Aristotle
"Happiness is the highest good."
Aristotle
"There is no great genius without a touch of madness."
Aristotle
Attributed
"Love is nothing but joy accompanied by the idea of an external cause."
Baruch Spinoza
"We can never be certain of anything unless we understand it completely."
Baruch Spinoza
Attributed
"Insofar as the mind understands all things as necessary, it has a power of affecting joy."
Baruch Spinoza
"The human body is composed of very many parts of diverse kinds."
Baruch Spinoza
"The mind's power of thinking is equal to its power of acting."
Baruch Spinoza
"Nature never orders us to hate ourselves."
Baruch Spinoza
"No one can be fundamentally denied the right to exist and enjoy life."
Baruch Spinoza
Attributed
"I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind."
Baruch Spinoza
"He who has a true idea simultaneously knows that he has a true idea."
Baruch Spinoza
"Joy is man's transition to a greater perfection."
Baruch Spinoza
"To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage."
Confucius
"Silence is a true friend who never betrays."
Confucius
Attributed
"The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business."
Confucius
"By three methods we may learn wisdom: reflection, imitation, and experience."
Confucius
Attributed
"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."
Confucius
Attributed
"The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions."
Confucius
"Real knowledge is knowing the extent of one's ignorance."
Confucius
Attributed
"When we know a thing, to hold that we know it; and when we do not know, to allow that we do not know."
Confucius
"The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home."
Confucius
Attributed
"When the father is away, the character is shaped."
Confucius
Attributed
"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."
Jane Goodall
"The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"Every single action by every single person matters."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"Chimpanzees have given me so much."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"Hope is a choice."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"We are not separated from the animal kingdom. We are part of it."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"We are all connected to each other."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"We have the power to change the world."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"Every individual matters."
Jane Goodall
Attributed
"One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others."
Simone de Beauvoir
"It is impossible to become aware of anything except in a relationship."
Simone de Beauvoir
"The tragedy of a woman is that she is always a vassal."
Simone de Beauvoir
Attributed
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."
Simone de Beauvoir
"Authentic love must be founded on freedom."
Simone de Beauvoir
"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you."
Simone de Beauvoir
Attributed
"Motherhood is the key to understanding gender."
Simone de Beauvoir
"It is for man to establish the reign of freedom in the midst of freedom."
Simone de Beauvoir
"The ethical problem is the problem of the authentic relationship."
Simone de Beauvoir
Attributed
"I am my choices."
Simone de Beauvoir
Attributed
"The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."
Socrates
Attributed
"Be as you wish to seem."
Socrates
Attributed
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
Socrates
"When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser."
Socrates
Attributed
"I know that I know nothing."
Socrates
"Virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good."
Socrates
"No one willingly pursues evil, nor what they think to be evil."
Socrates
Attributed
"Let him that would move the world first move himself."
Socrates
Attributed
"He who is not contented with what he has would not be contented with what he would like to have."
Socrates
Attributed
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Socrates