ethics Quotes

Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.

But is it just then that the few and the wealthy should be the rulers? And what if they, in like manner, rob and plunder the people, - is this just?

Every skill, every search for knowledge, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason, good has rightly been said to be what everything aims for.

We praise someone who gets angry for the right reasons, at the right people, in the right way, at the right time, and for the right duration.

Happiness is prosperity combined with virtue.

The law is reason unaffected by desire.

The precepts of the law may be comprehended under these three points: to live honestly, to hurt no man willfully, and to render every man his due carefully.

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

Governments which have a regard to the common interest are constituted in accordance with strict principles of justice, and are therefore true forms; but those which regard only the interest of the rulers are all defective and perverted forms, for... ...

Goodness is to do good to the deserving and love the good and hate the wicked, and not to be eager to inflict punishment or take vengeance, but to be gracious and kindly and forgiving.