2026 Reading Challenge

Kai Wicksnes > Kai's Quotes

Showing 1-20 of 20
sort by

    like
  • #1
    Ayn Rand
    “Learn to distinguish the difference between errors of knowledge and breaches of morality. An error of knowledge is not a moral flaw, provided you are willing to correct it; only a mystic would judge human beings by the standard of an impossible, automatic omniscience. But a breach of morality is the conscious choice of an action you know to be evil, or a willful evasion of knowledge, a suspension of sight and of thought. That which you do not know, is not a moral charge against you; but that which you refuse to know, is an account of infamy growing in your soul. Make every allowance for errors of knowledge; do not forgive or accept any break of morality.”
    ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
    tags: erring, evil, knowledge, morality, responsibility
    299 likes

    • like
  • #2
    John Stuart Mill
    “A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.”
    ― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
    tags: action, ethics, inaction, injury, morality, responsibility
    462 likes

    • like
  • #3
    Henry David Thoreau
    “If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.”
    ― Henry David Thoreau
    tags: example, leadership, morality, right, righteousness
    271 likes

    • like
  • #4
    Jeremy Bentham
    “Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, --will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, --or to diminish something of their pains.”
    ― Jeremy Bentham
    tags: ethics, happiness, misery, morality, pain, secular-morality
    203 likes

    • like
  • #5
    Bertrand Russell
    “[T]he infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.”
    ― Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays
    tags: conscience, cruelty, dishonesty, double-standards, hell, morality
    243 likes

    • like
  • #6
    Oscar Wilde
    “Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
    ― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan
    tags: gossip, morality, scandal
    169 likes

    • like
  • #7
    Antonio Gramsci
    “The point of modernity is to live a life without illusions while not becoming disillusioned”
    ― Antonio Gramsci
    tags: morality, philosophy, politics
    205 likes

    • like
  • #8
    Eliezer Yudkowsky
    “There is no justice in the laws of nature, no term for fairness in the equations of motion. The Universe is neither evil, nor good, it simply does not care. The stars don't care, or the Sun, or the sky.

    But they don't have to! WE care! There IS light in the world, and it is US!”
    ― Eliezer Yudkowsky, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
    tags: humanism, morality, morals, philosophy, religion
    223 likes

    • like
  • #9
    Immanuel Kant
    “The death of dogma is the birth of morality.”
    ― Immanuel Kant
    tags: death, dogma, morality
    178 likes

    • like
  • #10
    John Stuart Mill
    “It still remains unrecognised, that to bring a child into existence without a fair prospect of being able, not only to provide food for its body, but instruction and training for its mind, is a moral crime, both against the unfortunate offspring and against society; and that if the parent does not fulfil this obligation, the State ought to see it fulfilled, at the charge, as far as possible, of the parent.”
    ― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
    tags: charge, government, morality, offspring, politics, socialism, state
    119 likes

    • like
  • #11
    Dorothy L. Sayers
    “Some people's blameless lives are to blame for a good deal.”
    ― Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night
    tags: blame, conduct-of-life, double-standards, hypocrisy, morality, social-norms
    178 likes

    • like
  • #12
    Ayn Rand
    “What is morality, she asked.
    Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, and courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price. ”
    ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
    tags: morality
    157 likes

    • like
  • #13
    C.S. Lewis
    “The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.”
    ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
    tags: christian-living, christianity, morality
    71 likes

    • like
  • #14
    Cormac McCarthy
    “Suppose you were the last one left? Suppose you did that to yourself?”
    ― Cormac McCarthy, The Road
    tags: altruism, cormac-mccarthy, morality, selfishness, survival, the-road
    68 likes

    • like
  • #15
    Ashly Lorenzana
    “There is nothing wrong with revenge. The wrong has already been done, or there would be no need to even the score.”
    ― Ashly Lorenzana
    tags: morality, revenge
    51 likes

    • like
  • #16
    Confucius
    “The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.”
    ― Confucius
    tags: ads, advertising, capitalism, commerce, morality, right-and-wrong, understanding
    150 likes

    • like
  • #17
    Jim Butcher
    “‎It isn't enough to stand up and fight darkness. You've got to stand apart from it, too. You've got to be different from it.”
    ― Jim Butcher, Fool Moon
    tags: honor, morality, virtue
    157 likes

    • like
  • #18
    Noam Chomsky
    “Responsibility I believe accrues through privilege. People like you and me have an unbelievable amount of privilege and therefore we have a huge amount of responsibility. We live in free societies where we are not afraid of the police; we have extraordinary wealth available to us by global standards. If you have those things, then you have the kind of responsibility that a person does not have if he or she is slaving seventy hours a week to put food on the table; a responsibility at the very least to inform yourself about power. Beyond that, it is a question of whether you believe in moral certainties or not.”
    ― Noam Chomsky
    tags: freedom, moral-absolutism, morality, police, privilege, responsibility, wealth
    254 likes

    • like
  • #19
    Robert G. Ingersoll
    “Justice is the only worship.
    Love is the only priest.
    Ignorance is the only slavery.
    Happiness is the only good.
    The time to be happy is now,
    The place to be happy is here,
    The way to be happy is to make others so.
    Wisdom is the science of happiness.”
    ― Robert Green Ingersoll
    tags: good, happiness, how-to-be-happy, morality, place, time
    69 likes

    • like
  • #20
    Suzanne Collins
    “Even in war there should be lines you didn't cross.”
    ― Suzanne Collins, Gregor and the Code of Claw
    tags: morality, war
    43 likes



Rss
All Quotes



Tags From Kai’s Quotes

erring
evil
knowledge
morality
responsibility
action
ethics
inaction
injury
example
leadership
right
righteousness
happiness
misery
pain
secular-morality
conscience
cruelty
dishonesty
double-standards
hell
gossip
scandal
philosophy
politics
humanism
morals
religion
death
dogma
charge
government
offspring
socialism
state
blame
conduct-of-life
hypocrisy
social-norms
christian-living
christianity
altruism
cormac-mccarthy
selfishness
survival
the-road
revenge
ads
advertising
capitalism
commerce
right-and-wrong
understanding
honor
virtue
freedom
moral-absolutism
police
privilege
wealth
good
how-to-be-happy
place
time
war