J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)
Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), The Social Ideal, pp. 157–158
Book I, 1098b.23
Nicomachean Ethics
J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)
Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), The Social Ideal, pp. 157–158
Sarah Bakewell book How to Live
describing Montaigne’s view, p. 57.
How to Live, or, A Life of Montaigne in one Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer (2010)
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
1860s, Reply to an Emancipation Memorial (1862)
Context: The subject presented in the memorial is one upon which I have thought much for weeks past, and I may even say for months. I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps in some respects both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it! These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right.
The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree.
“A monk is one who is conditioned by virtues as others are by pleasures.”
John Climacus book The Ladder of Divine Ascent
23:25
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
John Rawls book A Theory of Justice
Source: A Theory of Justice (1971; 1975; 1999), Chapter I, Section 3, pg. 15
Albert Pike book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XXII : Grand Master Architect, p. 194
Context: To the impure, the dishonest, the false-hearted, the corrupt and the sensual, occasions come every day, and in every scene, and through every avenue of thought and imagination. He is prepared to capitulate before the first approach is commenced; and sends out the white flag when the enemy's advance comes in sight of his walls. He makes occasions; or, if opportunities come not, evil thoughts come, and he throws wide open the gates of his heart and welcomes those bad visitors, and entertains them with a lavish hospitality.
The business of the world absorbs, corrupts, and degrades one mind, while in another it feeds and nurses the noblest independency integrity, and generosity. Pleasure is a poison to some, and a healthful refreshment to others. To one. the world is a great harmony, like a noble strain of music with infinite modulations; to another, it is a huge factory, the clash and clang of whose machinery jars upon his ears and frets him to madness.
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
Plato, Republic, T. Griffith, trans. (2000), 587a
Plato, Republic
Arthur Schopenhauer book Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
Vol. 1, Ch. 4, § 2
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères
Il y a des âmes sales, pétries de boue et d’ordure, éprises du gain et de l’intérêt, comme les belles âmes le sont de la gloire et de la vertu; capables d’une seule volupté, qui est celle d’acquérir ou de ne point perdre.
Aphorism 58
Les Caractères (1688), Des biens de fortune