"There is a limit to human charity," said Lady Outram, trembling all over."There is," said Father Brown dryly, "and that is the real difference between human charity and Christian charity. You must forgive me if I was not altogether crushed by your contempt for my uncharitableness today; or by the lectures you read me about pardon for every sinner. For it seems to me that you only pardon the sins that you don't really think sinful. You only forgive criminals when they commit what you don't regard as crimes, but rather as conventions. So you tolerate a conventional duel, just as you tolerate a conventional divorce. You forgive because there isn't anything to be forgiven."

Morality, Charity, Forgiveness, Sin

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"There is a limit to human charity," said Lady Outram, trembling all over."There is," said Father Brown dryly, "and that is the real difference between human charity and Christian charity. You must forgive me if I was not altogether crushed by your contempt for my uncharitableness today; or by the lectures you read me about pardon for every sinner. For it seems to me that you only pardon the sins that you don't really think sinful. You only forgive criminals when they commit what you don't regard as crimes, but rather as conventions. So you tolerate a conventional duel, just as you tolerate a conventional divorce. You forgive because there isn't anything to be forgiven."

Exlpore more Morality quotes

"We perhaps know more than we care to admit, keeping it down in the dark places of our memory-disavowed. When we eat factory-farmed meat we live, literally, on tortured flesh. Increasingly, that tortured flesh is becoming our own."

Jonathan Safran Foer, American Novelist

Morality, Suffering, Memory, Ethics, Animals

"The Ten Commandments are the most visible symbol because these commandments are recognized by Christians and Jews alike as being the foundation of our system of public morality."

Pat Robertson, American Clergyman

Morality, Being, Public, Symbol

"On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time."

George Orwell, British Author

Morality, Humanity, Behavior, Limit

"Morality is the custom of one's country and the current feeling of one's peers."

Samuel Butler, British Poet

Morality, Country, Custom, Feeling

"In silence, an act is an act is an act. Verbalized and discussed, it becomes an ethical problem ..."

Aldous Huxley, English Novelist

Morality, Action, Ethics, Silence, Word

"Humility is a virtue of the heavenly, not arrogance. Are we the most superior beast on earth? No, not in strength and not in intelligence. It is very arrogant to assume that we are the most intelligent species when we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Both rats and monkeys have been shown to learn from error, yet we have not. More people have died in the name of religion than any other cause on earth. Is massacring God's creations really serving God " or the devil? And what father would want to see his children constantly divided and fighting? What God would allow a single human life to be sacrificed for monetary gain? Again, the Creator or the devil?"

Suzy Kassem, American Writer

Morality, Humility, Arrogance, Superiority, Intelligence

"Don't do the right thing for the wrong reasons. It is the "why" that keeps us committed to our choices and defines our character."

Shannon L. Alder, American Author

Morality, Right, Reason, Commitment, Character

"There is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena."

Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher

Morality, Perception, Philosophy, Ethics

"Deed of darkness is dark gloom."

Lailah Gifty Akita, Ghanaian Author

Morality, Deed, Darkness, Gloom, Evil

"Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet

Morality, Courtesy, Life, Time, Truth

Explore more quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton

"The Christian optimism is based on the fact that we do not fit in to the world."

Faith

"I said to him, "Shall I tell you where the men are who believe most in themselves? For I can tell you. I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar. I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success. I can guide you to the thrones of the Super-men. The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums."

Psychology

"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude."

Life

"The issue is now quite clear. It is between light and darkness and every one must choose his side."

Ethics

"The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul."

Spiritual

"The present condition of fame is merely fashion."

Fame

"The joke is generally in the oddest way the truth and yet not the fact."

Wisdom

"As regards moral courage, then, it is not so much that the public schools support it feebly, as that they suppress it firmly."

Morality

"The Frenchman works until he can play. The American works until he can't play; and then thanks the devil, his master, that he is donkey enough to die in harness. But the Englishman, as he has since become, works until he can pretend that he never worked at all."

Culture

"The things said most confidently by advanced persons to crowded audiences are generally those opposite to the fact, it is actually our truisms that are untrue."

Philosophy