"Grandfather looked away from me and out to sea, and when he spoke, it was as though he spoke to himself. "The obligations of normal human kindness " chesed, as the Hebrew has it " that we all owe. But there's a kind of vanity in thinking you can nurse the world. There's a kind of vanity in goodness.I could hardly believe my ears. "But aren't we supposed to be good?"I'm not sure. Grandfather's voice was heavy. "I do know that we're not good, and there's a lot of truth to the saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Ethics, Kindness, Vanity, Goodness, Motivational

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"Grandfather looked away from me and out to sea, and when he spoke, it was as though he spoke to himself. "The obligations of normal human kindness " chesed, as the Hebrew has it " that we all owe. But there's a kind of vanity in thinking you can nurse the world. There's a kind of vanity in goodness.I could hardly believe my ears. "But aren't we supposed to be good?"I'm not sure. Grandfather's voice was heavy. "I do know that we're not good, and there's a lot of truth to the saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Exlpore more Ethics quotes

"But you can't just leave it at that!" said Anathema, pushing forward. "Think of all things you could do! Good things."Like what?" said Adam suspiciously."Well... you could bring all the whales back, to start with."He put his head on one side. "An' that'd stop people killing them?"She hesitated. It would have been nice to say yes."An' if people do start killing 'em, what would you ask me to do about 'em?" said Adam. "No. I reckon I'm getting the hang of this now. Once I start messing around like that, there'd be no stoppin' it. Seems to me, the only sensible thing is for people to know if they kill a whale, they've got a dead whale."

Terry Pratchett, English Author

Ethics, Environment, Morality, Responsibility, Power

"Religion [dharma] is that where there is no irreligion (adharma, immorality). Religion cannot exist where there is irreligion. There can be only one or the other. Behind every intention, there is either [the force of] religion or [the force of] irreligion."

Dada Bhagwan, Indian Spiritual Leader

Ethics, Religion, Morality, Truth, Wisdom

"Doing good things for bad people is no different than doing bad things on good people."

M.F. Moonzajer, Afghan Author

Ethics, Morality, Justice, Truth, Regret

"We are all flawed and creatures of our times. Is it fair to judge us by the unknown standards of the future?"

Carl Sagan, American Scientist

Ethics, Judgment, Fairness, Time, Perspective

"Because sometimes you have to do something bad to do something good."

Oscar Wilde, Irish Dramatist

Ethics, Morality, Action, Truth, Justice

"There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do if he chooses, and that is his duty; not by manoeuvring and finessing, but by vigour and resolution. - Mr. Knightley."

Jane Austen, British Writer

Ethics, Duty, Resolution, Virtue, Action

"Of course, in the process, you must never do harm to others in any serious way, or you'll cease to amuse Him. Then payment comes due for promises you didn't keep."

Dean Koontz, American Author

Ethics, Promise, Responsibility, Harm

"It is better to be slave to righteousness than slave to sin."

Lailah Gifty Akita, Ghanaian Author

Ethics, Righteousness, Sin, Faith, Choice

"Happiness at any price is no happiness at all."

Abdulazeez Henry Musa, Nigerian Author

Ethics, Happiness, Morality, Selfishness, Empathy

"Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right."

Henry David Thoreau, American Author

Ethics, Conscience, Law, Morality, Rights

Explore more quotes by Madeleine L'Engle

"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."

Family, Children, Will

"When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability... To be alive is to be vulnerable."

Family, Children, Vulnerability

"With each book I write, I become more and more convinced that the books have a life of their own, quite apart from me."

Life, Books

"A book comes and says, "Write me." My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough, but all I can do is listen to it, do what it tells me and collaborate."

Ability, Job

"If I'm confused, or upset, or angry, if I can go out and look at the stars I'll almost always get back a sense of proportion. It's not that they make me feel insignificant; it's the very opposite; they make me feel that everything matters, be it ever so small, and that there's meaning to life even when it seems most meaningless."

Philosophy, Perspective, Meaning, Life, Reflection

"Rather than feeling lost and unimportant and meaningless, set against galaxies which go beyond the reach of the furthest telescopes, I feel that my life has meaning. Perhaps I should feel insignificant, but instead I feel a soaring in my heart that the God who could create all this - and out of nothing - can still count the hairs of my head."

Belief, Faith, God, Creation, Meaning

"I like the fact that in ancient Chinese art the great painters always included a deliberate flaw in their work: human creation is never perfect."

Art, Creation, Fact

"She knew that the freedom was in herself, just as the prison had been."

Freedom, Prison, Self, Identity

"The foolish of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of god is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that may not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath choses the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And bade things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are."

Faith, Wisdom, Strength, Weakness, Calling

"Calvin said, "Do you know that this is the first time I've seen you without your glasses?""I'm blind as a bat without them. I'm near-sighted, like father.""Well, you know what, you've got dream-boat eyes," Calvin said. "Listen, you go right on wearing your glasses. I don't think I want anybody else to see what gorgeous eyes you have."

Affection, Eye, Beauty, Love, Appearance