Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2008-01-31 Jan 31, 2008The legal code can never be identified with the code of morals. It is no more the function of government to impose a moral code than to impose a religious code. And for the same reason.~ Robert M. MacIverIn a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes.~ Geoffrey Fisher...[A] prohibition on moral judgments against various sexual behaviors is a violation of the freedom, even of the religious liberty, of those who view such behavior as wrong. If we don't have a right to act according to our religious belief by forming judgments according to those beliefs about human conduct and behavior, then, exactly what does the free exercise of religion mean? Can the free exercise of religion really mean simply that I have the right to believe that God has ordained certain things to be right or wrong but that I can't act accordingly? Surely free exercise means the freedom to act according to belief. And, yet, if we are not allowed to act according to belief when it comes to fundamental moral precepts, then what will be the moral implications of religion? None at all. But if we accept an understanding of religious liberty that doesn't permit us to discriminate the wheat from the chaff in our own actions and those of others, haven't we in fact permitted the government to dictate to us a uniform approach to religion? And, isn't that dictation of uniformity in religion exactly what the First Amendment intended to forbid?~ Alan Keyes Jan 30, 2008There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.~ P. J. O'RourkeIt makes no difference whether a good man has defrauded a bad man, or a bad man defrauded a good man, or whether a good or bad man has committed adultery: the law can look only to the amount of damage done.~ AristotleWe must learn to distinguish morality from moralizing.~ Henry Kissinger Jan 29, 2008A man does what he must -- in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers -- and this is the basis of all human morality.~ John F. KennedyYou can’t, in sound morals, condemn a man for taking care of his own integrity. It is his clear duty.~ Joseph ConradNo more duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theater of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions.~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin Jan 28, 2008All that is good is not embodied in the law; and all that is evil is not proscribed by the law. A well-disciplined society needs few laws; but it needs strong mores.~ William F. Buckley, Jr.Morality cannot exist one minute without freedom... Only a free man can possibly be moral. Unless a good deed is voluntary, it has no moral significance.~ Everett Dean MartinThere can be no truly moral choice unless that choice is made in freedom; similarly, there can be no really firmly grounded and consistent defense of freedom unless that defense is rooted in moral principle. In concentrating on the ends of choice, the conservative, by neglecting the conditions of choice, loses that very morality of conduct with which he is so concerned. And the libertarian, by concentrating only on the means, or conditions, of choice and ignoring the ends, throws away an essential moral defense of his own position.~ Murray N. Rothbard Jan 25, 2008As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes; and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity.~ Benjamin FranklinBe not too hasty to trust or admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels but they live like men.~ Dr. Samuel JohnsonMay God prevent us from becoming 'right-thinking men' -- that is to say, men who agree perfectly with their own police.~ Thomas Merton Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print