Quotes on Ethical Questions

Christian quotes on Ethical Questions — with author, dates and source, from two millennia of Christian thought.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Mother Teresa

It is not your business to succeed, but to do right: when you have done so, the rest lies with God.

C.S. Lewis

The good you do today, will often be forgotten by tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Mother Teresa

My obligation is to do the right thing. The rest is in God's hands.

Martin Luther King Jr.

There are no ordinary people; every neighbor carries eternal significance.

C.S. Lewis

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King Jr.

But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

Desmond Tutu

Before God there is no life unworthy of life; for life itself is held worthy by God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Gossip is saying behind a person’s back what you would never say to his or her face; flattery is saying to a person’s face what you would never say behind his or her back.

Kent Hughes

Worldliness is whatever makes sin look normal and righteousness look strange.

Kevin DeYoung

Indeed, who can be good to others if he is bad to himself? Remember then: grant yourself to yourself. I do not say: do this always. I do not say: do this often. But I say: do it from time to time. Be there for yourself, as you are for everyone else.

Bernard of Clairvaux

Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it.

Philip Yancey

If, like the elder brother, you seek to control God through your obedience, then all your morality is just a way to use God to make him give you the things in life you really want.

Tim Keller

[Gossip is] telling someone privileged, negative information about another when the recipient is neither part of the problem nor part of the solution.

John Loftness

Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that every major display of power, whether political or religious, strikes a large part of humanity with stupidity.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.

Hélder Câmara

I remain of the opinion that I have done the best that I could do for my people right now. I therefore do not regret my actions and will take upon myself the consequences that arise from them.

Sophie Scholl

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

Our culture says that feelings of love are the basis for actions of love. And of course that can be true. But it is truer to say that actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love.

Tim Keller

Compassion is the chief law of human existence.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

We fight abortion with adoption. With God's grace we will succeed. God blessed our work. We have saved thousands of children; they have found a home where they are loved, where they are wanted, where they have brought joy.

Mother Teresa

Suffering wrong harms no Christian. But doing wrong does.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

No matter how just your words may be, you ruin everything when you speak with anger.

John Chrysostom

The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.

Warren Wiersbe

The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you can only do a little.

Sydney Smith

He that demands mercy, and shows none, ruins the bridge over which he himself is to pass.

Thomas Adams

If you are honest and frank people will try to cheat you: Be honest anyway.

Mother Teresa

Nothing degrades a man more than allowing himself to fall so low as to hate someone.

Martin Luther King Jr.

We are the times: such as we are, so are the times.

Augustine of Hippo

From the root of love nothing truly evil can grow.

Augustine of Hippo

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Responsible action does not ask about one's own purity, but about the neighbor before God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One also learns to hope by acting as if rescue were possible.

Fulbert Steffensky

For nothing is harder and nothing requires more character than to find oneself in open opposition to one's time and to say out loud: No.

Kurt Tucholsky

Alongside the drive to reproduce and to eat and drink, man has two passions: to make noise and not to listen.

Kurt Tucholsky

If we are to raise children, we must also become children with them.

Martin Luther

There is more dignity in generous forgiveness than in revenge.

William Shakespeare

People quoted here

Mother Teresa, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Desmond Tutu, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Kent Hughes, Kevin DeYoung, Bernard of Clairvaux, Philip Yancey, Tim Keller, John Loftness

Related

God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, Grace & Redemption, The Bible & the Word of God, Doubt & Hard Questions, Suffering & the Question of God, Eternity & Hope Beyond Death, Fear & Anxiety, Grief & Comfort, Illness & Weakness, Loneliness & Abandonment, Meaning & Identity, Time & Transience, Work & Vocation, Money & Possessions, Faith & Trust, Hope & Confidence, Joy & Gratitude, Peace & Rest, Humility & Pride, Patience & Waiting, Courage & Strength, Wisdom & Understanding, Freedom & Truth, Love, Relationships & Family, Guilt & Forgiveness, Service & Love of Neighbour, Justice & Commitment, Church & Congregation, Witness & Mission, Prayer & Silence, Discipleship, Growth & Character, Temptation & Struggle, Guidance & God's Will

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