Moral Dilemmas Quotes

“We must go back to the firm discipline and simplicity of the one-room schoolhouse to find a better education for our children.”
― Shafter Bailey, James Ed Hoskins and the One-Room Schoolhouse: The Unprosecuted Crime Against Children

“The trial awaiting Helen was known among the Toltecs as a Kazil,
a special court convened to consider only those state crimes serious
enough to be punished by death. It consisted of a joint session of
the Kinshazen and the highest-ranking priests of the Temple of Kronos,
who were referred to as the Host of the Faithful.
A Kazil was always conducted at Kindred House, the building where
the members of the Kinshazen met. Its outer layer consisted of massive
blocks of polished pink granite, which had a decidedly dark cast to it.
Kindred House was closest to Lake Shambhala of all the structures in
the Nighthall government complex.
Those summoned before a Kazil and convicted of the charges were invariably put to death within three days of the proceeding. And in only a few, very rare, instances had anyone been found innocent on trial before a Kazil.”
― Candace L. Talmadge, Stoneslayer: Book One Scandal

“Do you think we would eat supper and not include the children. No child goes hungry when I’m around.”
― R. Gerry Fabian, Just Out Of Reach

“McDonalds? Never heard of it. We are going to have to find out where it is and take the whole family.”
― R. Gerry Fabian, Just Out Of Reach

“She hurries out of the hammering rain into the puddled shelter of St Pancras. As arranged, he's waiting outside WH Smith, and her heart jerks like a bad dog on a lead.”
― Lesley Glaister, A Particular Man

“During the film (long, miserable) he takes her hand and squeezes rhythmically as if he's milking a cow.  She's distracted by wondering if he has ever, in fact, milked a cow.”
― Lesley Glaister, A Particular Man

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but to their own facts.”
― Susan Liautaud, The Power of Ethics: How to Make Good Choices in a Complicated World

“I took my own and Kolya’s two-day ration of bread and lard to the hospital,” the boy said, with unsettling calm beyond his years. “We must do everything we can to save him. If he dies, he won’t need food anymore.”
Danilo’s eyes filled with tears.
“Oh God, how could you let this happen?” he thought bitterly. “Is it fair to take a piece from one starving child to give it to another?”
He pulled his son’s head to his chest.
“You’re probably right,” he said quietly.
After a while, he returned from the pantry with an unusually full bucket of cornmeal and two bundles.
“Mother,” Danilo said to his mother-in-law, handing her the food, “besides the usual bread, bake a few pies with lard and pumpkin—for Kolya… and for Peter.”
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set during the Holodomor, this scene captures the impossible moral choices faced by families during the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine. A child’s stark logic forces adults to confront the inhuman calculus of survival—where compassion meant redistributing hunger, and saving one life could mean endangering another.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.