Quotes About Morals (Powerful, Meaningful & Some A Little Funny)
The following inspiring quotes about morals help to guide and encourage us.
Every person has their own set of morals and values that they live their lives by. It might just be a few words, a few ‘boundaries’ or standards, but it is how we operate.
Some of the most common morals are things like ‘be honest’, ‘help others’, ‘don’t hurt others’, etc. We focus on these words because they shape who we are and how we act when it comes down to decision-making.
Why Are Morals Important?
Morals are important because they help guide our lives.
They are the basis of what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and dictate how we should act in every situation and how we make decisions.
Without morals, people would be lost as to what to do or whether they were acting correctly or not.
Quotes About Morals
The following quotes on morals help to illustrate why personal morals are so important and their relations to ethics and value systems. They are of course the opinions of the authors listed and should be used to encourage and inspire:
“So far, 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
“Base yourself in loyalty and trust. Don’t be companion with those who are not your moral equal. When you make a mistake, don’t hesitate to correct it.” Confucius
“Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.” Laurence Sterne
“Top 15 Things Money Can’t Buy: Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.” Roy T. Bennett
“The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, ‘I was wrong’.” Sydney J. Harris
“Morality binds people into groups. It gives us tribalism, it gives us genocide, war, and politics. But it also gives us heroism, altruism, and sainthood.” Jonathan Haidt
“My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear down?” John Shelby Spong
“The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.” Edmund Burke
“I don’t like to say things that I wouldn’t want to say to someone’s face. Those are my morals for life.” Emma Chamberlain
“Right is Right even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong about it.” Gilbert K. Chesterton
“The morality we all grew up with and are accustomed to is what feels right.” Stephen Hillenburg
Moral Quotes About Life
“A moral system valid for all is basically immoral.” Friedrich Nietzsche
“The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” Saint Augustine
“A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.” John F. Kennedy
“As an immigrant, I appreciate, far more than the average American, the liberties we have in this country. Silence is a big enemy of morality. I don’t want our blunders in history to get repeated.” Gloria Estefan
“Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.” Mikhail Bakunin
“Humans are born with a hard-wired morality: a sense of good and evil is bred in the bone. I know this claim might sound outlandish, but it’s supported now by research in several laboratories.” Paul Bloom
Short Moral Quotes
“Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” Mark Twain
“How can one be well…when one suffers morally?” Leo Tolstoy
“Do not do an immoral thing for moral reasons.” Thomas Hardy
“Morality is only moral when it is voluntary.” Lincoln Steffens
“Find people whose morals and vision align with yours, and follow that.” Kevin Abstract
“Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.” Friedrich Nietzsche
“Morality is a test of our conformity rather than our integrity.” Jane Rule
“Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.” Henry David Thoreau
“Morality may consist solely in the courage of making a choice.” Leon Blum
Quotes About Morals and Ethics
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi
“The time is always right to do what is right.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.” Herbert Spencer
“Once a man knows good from evil, nothing on earth can compel him to act against that knowledge.” Socrates
“A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.” Albert Camus
“You don’t teach morals and ethics and empathy and kindness in the schools. You teach that at home, and children learn by example.” Judy Sheindlin
“Try to find the path of least resistance and use it without harming others. Live with integrity and morality, not only with people but with all beings.” Steven Seagal
“I don’t work according to anyone’s schedule, but according to my ethics.” H.L. Sudler
“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” Theodore Roosevelt
“Human morality is unthinkable without empathy.” Frans de Waal
“What happens when good people are put into an evil place? Do they triumph or does the situation dominate their past history and morality?” Philip Zimbardo
“The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.” Albert Einstein
Quotes About Morals and Values
“Compassion is the basis of morality.” Arthur Schopenhauer
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” C. S. Lewis
“Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality.” Frank Herbert
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” Frederick Douglass
“Honor is simply the morality of superior men.” H. L. Mencken
“Teach a child what is wise, that is morality. Teach him what is wise and beautiful, that is religion!” Thomas Huxley
“Before you call yourself a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or any other theology, learn to be human first.” Shannon L. Alder
“It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere… Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” Albert Einstein
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” Mark Twain
Funny Quotes About Morals
“The more highly public life is organized the lower does its morality sink.” E. M. Forster
“Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality.” William Hazlitt
“I have to live for others and not for myself: that’s middle-class morality.” George Bernard Shaw
“Money, not morality, is the principal commerce of civilized nations.” Thomas Jefferson
“Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.” H. L. Mencken
“Politicians have limited power. They can’t impose morality on themselves. How can they impose it on the country?” Cal Thomas
“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.” Oscar Wilde
“Politics have no relation to morals.” Niccolo Machiavelli
“The higher the building the lower the morals.” Noel Coward
“Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.” Isaac Asimov
Interested in more similar inspirational quotes, then be sure to check out:
- 32 Quotes About Having Respect For Others
- 32 Inspirational Quotes About Contribution & Helping Others
- 36 Integrity Quotes & Wise Words For An Ethical Life
- Inspiring Integrity Quotes For The Workplace
- 18 Powerful Quotes About Honor That Inspire Integrity
- 40 Interesting Quotes on Honesty in Life & Relationships
