Wisdom of ethics

These ideas have been taken from Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma by Richard van de
Langemaat. Cambridge University Press.

Albert Einstein
“I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an
exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.” Albert Einstein
(German scientist 1879-1955)

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Marcus Tullius Cicero

“The good of the people is the greatest law.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (Roman
philosopher and statesman 106-43 BC)
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Albert Camus
“A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.” Albert Camus (French
author and philosopher 1913-1960)
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Potter Stewart
“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is
right to do.” Potter Stewart (Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
1915-1985)
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Thomas Jefferson
“I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of
man.” Thomas Jefferson (Third President of the United States 1743-1826)
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Immanuel Kant
“In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he
only thinks of doing so.” Immanuel Kant (German philosopher 1724-1804)
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Albert Schweitzer
“Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and
depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.” Albert
Schweitzer (Franco-German philosopher, theologian and physicist 1875-1965)
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Thomas Edison
“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we
stop harming all other living things, we are still savages.” Thomas Edison (American
inventor and scientist 1847-1931)
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H. Jay Dinshah
“Man cannot pretend to be higher in ethics, spirituality, advancement or civilisation
than other creatures, and at the same time live by lower standards than the vulture or
hyena.” H. Jay Dinshah (President of the American Vegan Society 1933-2000)
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Even the most rational approach to ethics is defenceless if there isn’t the will to do
what is right.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Russian author and historian 1918-2008)
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Price Pritchett
“You can’t put someone else in charge of your morals. Ethics is a personal discipline.”
Price Pritchett (American business advisor and guru 1941- )
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Omar Nelson Bradley

“We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about killing than
we know about living.” Omar Nelson Bradley (First Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, five-star General of the Army 1893-1981)
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Elvin Stakman
“Science cannot stop while ethics catches up.” Elvin Stakman (American plant
scientist 1885-1979)
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George S. Patton
“Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in
men.” George S. Patton (United States Army General 1885-1945)
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Alfred North Whitehead

“What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there
happens to like, and immorality is what they dislike?” Alfred North Whitehead
(English mathematician and philosopher 1861-1947)
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Henry Mencken
“Immorality - the morality of those who are having a better time.” Henry Mencken
(American journalist and satirist 1880-1956)

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