“I ask myself only: can you also will that your maxim become a universal law?”

— Immanuel Kant

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
Context: I do not, therefore, need any penetrating acuteness to see what I have to do in order that my volition be morally good. Inexperienced in the course of the world, incapable of being prepared for whatever might come to pass in it, I ask myself only: can you also will that your maxim become a universal law?

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Immanuel Kant 200

German philosopher 1724–1804

Related quotes

“There is … only a single categorical imperative and it is this: Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Der kategorische Imperativ, der überhaupt nur aussagt, was Verbindlichkeit sei, ist: handle nach einer Maxime, welche zugleich als ein allgemeines Gesetz gelten kann.
Source: Metaphysics of Morals (1797), Ch. 11

“I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Ich soll niemals anders verfahren als so, dass ich auch wollen könne, meine Maxime solle ein allgemeines Gesetz werden.
Kant's supreme moral principle or "categorical imperative"; Variant translations:
Act only on that maxim which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature.
So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions were to become universal law.
Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.
Do not feel forced to act, as you're only willing to act according to your own universal laws. And that's good. For only willfull acts are universal. And that's your maxim.
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)

“I simply assert that the universe alters, is "becoming;" what it is becoming I will not venture to say. ...the individual too is altering, is not only a "being" but also a "becoming."”

Karl Pearson (1857–1936) English mathematician and biometrician

These alterations... I shall—merely for convenience—term life.
The Ethic of Freethought (Mar 6, 1883)

“Morality is thus the relation of actions to the autonomy of the will, that is, to a possible giving of universal law through its maxims.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
Context: Morality is thus the relation of actions to the autonomy of the will, that is, to a possible giving of universal law through its maxims. An action that can coexist with the autonomy of the will is permitted; one that does not accord with it is forbidden. A will whose maxims necessarily harmonize with the laws of autonomy is a holy, absolutely good will. The dependence upon the principle of autonomy of a will that is not absolutely good (moral necessitation) is obligation. This, accordingly, cannot be attributed to a holy being. The objective of an action from obligation is called duty.