A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives - of approving of some and disapproving of others.
quote by Charles Darwin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
All governments in all wars have used all the means at their disposal to put their own motives, decisions and actions, and the actions of their military forces, in the best possible light.
quote by Bruce Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Letter From Baby, To Guzel (an excerpt from current somniations...)
Guzel,
You have pointed to MY actions as destructive; MY actions were just REACTIONS to YOUR actions; You deceived everyone BECAUSE you were scared, which pushed you away from the 'love of your life'-ME! MY actions are, and have only ever been bourne out of selfless love and and a boundless concern for you; YOUR actions, ON THAT day were the destructive actions; THEY are the only thing that caused all of what followed, for the brief time that both of us were NOT ourselves.
WHY would you destroy something so beautiful, because you are scared? All you needed to do was, say: 'Moe, I am scared! '-to which I would have replied something like: 'OK, no problem-the solution is to slow down and reassess, to ensure you are NOT scared again.' MAYBE THAT is what you should have, and what I would have, done! YOUR actions since that day tell me and the world, that you WANT to fix what YOU broke; namely, NOW, due YOUR actions, EVERYONE with a 'need to know' of MY past does (ALL AT ONCE) and THAT is dead, and? ? ? s they may have NOW, are for me and ME alone; YOUR burden is done my beloved!
I need YOU to understand that though you effectively betrayed me, as well as yourself by NOT being wholly honest about how you REALLY feel, I AM NOT angry, I understand completely NOW why you did what you did, and when and how you did it! I know more than anyone WHY! ! I know more about you than perhaps anyone else in the world, perhaps even YOU! YOU were NOT ready to come here, consort with BOTH our families under the BURDEN of YOUR secret about what HAPPENED to ME! ! I understand, not only because I love you, but because I am pretty insightful as well!
As time marches from that tragic day just before Christmas, the truth, the REAL TRUTH settles and the deceit as well as my 'baggage' fades; Speaking of such-both your past and mine have only strengthened us, they are NOT burdens for each, they are NOT cloaks behind which to hide-they ARE ways that we have learned lessons and gained much strength!
GOD and YOU and alone control both your own destiny, as well as how others view you and those you love most ardently-people are capable of much love, as you well know, through me, as well as others. YOUR friends and family effectively were MORE ambushed MORE than I, BY YOU! But again, the damage has been done, the coast is now clear and the 'drama' is gone. NOW, I only possess a 'sordid' past which includes an 'ex-wife' and TWO beautifully inspiring Daughters. JUST THE WAY YOU LIKE IT! ! (*as you said to me 8 January 2012*) . I HAVE NEVER seen WHAT I know about YOU as baggage, but as PROOF of your strength-now show the world how strong you really are!
Stop running FROM your love and TOWARD YOUR fear, reverse the course, er, curse and come back to friendship, then perhaps love at YOUR speed, it IS real, it IS true and YOU are LOVED!
-Baby
poem by Maurice Harris
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Actions are visible, though motives are secret.
quote by Samuel Johnson
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We should often blush for our very best actions, if the world did but see all the motives upon which they were done.
quote by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
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People do not always understand the motives of sublime conduct, and when they are astonished they are very apt to think they ought to be alarmed. The truth is none are fit judges of greatness but those who are capable of it.
quote by Jane Porter
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We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood our motives.
quote by La Rochefoucauld
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Sleaze With a Dash of Slime
Disapproval generally means
Doing that which does not approve!
Going against the grain!
And
If done often enough...
The actions draw so much attention
To disgust those into discussions
At such an alarming rate to make
Disapproving activities the center of attraction...
And the focus of curiosity!
Stirring up controversy
That eventually becomes the subject of good taste!
With just a touch of sleaze and a dash of slime!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.
quote by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Democracy is the only system capable of reflecting the humanist premise of equilibrium or balance. The key to its secret is the involvement of the citizen.
quote by John Ralston Saul
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I had moments of my actions and words not reflecting who it is I am - if that defines a punk, then yes, absolutely.
quote by Andre Agassi
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To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms.
quote by John Leonard
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions - which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through our ignorance of their motives.
quote by Saint Teresa
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Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.
quote by Tryon Edwards
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Leave Not Your Soul's Companion Behind
Remember not that which has infected your mind,
Only that which had infused and strengthened your heart!
Leave not your soul's companion behind-
Allow not the greatest love we've known to depart!
Illusions of mind-as real as mythical beasts of yore:
A moral quandary, your actions hath caused, lo, far more!
Illogical and irrational may be the only descripttion given-
Actions founded upon delusion need cease, if we are to keep living!
The only acceptable solution lies in how we lived before-
Much pain could have been avoided, if you'd only paused!
Healing doth come, with the love and understanding we had, and
With the truth that is needed to assuage your guilt,
So too, must come a future where we are gladdened
To not repeat mistakes of past-only then shall our heart's be fulfilled!
Maurice Harris,2 May 2008
poem by Maurice Harris
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Nothing, Nothing, Could be Clearer...
Abyss has never ventured nearer!
Horror, cloaked in tainted glass-
Reflecting terror, midnight’s mirror…
The stars convulse- vomit, wither!
Birdsong stops- shadows dance,
Abyss has never ventured nearer!
Reflecting terror, midnights mirror…
Shows my soul- writhing in a dark romance!
Nothing, Nothing, could be clearer…
No witchdoctor, nor faith healer
Could un-forge this fate flame-cast
Reflecting terror, midnights mirror…
I weep! In vain I beg beneath her!
While an envy looms above my past
Abyss has never ventured nearer!
Reflecting terror, midnight’s mirror…
…Nothing, Nothing, could be clearer.
poem by Lazarus Knix
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My actions to promote peace, the mediation missions which I carried out during many conflicts, which very often occurred between brothers of the same country, are not driven by any ulterior motives or any calculations based on personal ambitions.
quote by Omar Bongo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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How frequently are the honesty and integrity of a man disposed of by a smile or a shrug. How many good and generous actions have been sunk into oblivion by a distrustful look, or stamped with the imputation of bad motives, by a mysterious and seasonable whisper!
It is not enough to be well-intentioned; one must strive to put those intentions into action in a capable way. One must consider the effect his actions will have on others. Looked at like this, to persist in ignorance is itself dishonorable.
quote by Andrew Cohen
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Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else; and primarily, morality consists in the motives, that is in the affections.
quote by Archibald Alexander
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To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides this, there are many minds so sympathetically constituted that, without any other motive of vanity or self-interest, they find a pleasure in spreading joy around them, and can take delight in the satisfaction of others so far as it is their own work. But I maintain that in such a case an action of this kind, however proper, however amiable it may be, has nevertheless no true moral worth, but is on a level with other inclinations.... For the maxim lacks the moral import, namely, that such actions be done from duty, not from inclination.
Immanuel Kant in Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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