
“The moral precept to adopt…is: Judge, and be prepared to be judged.”
The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.32
Context: The most evident of the wonders described in the book On the Use of the Limbs [by Galen]... is clearly perceived by all who examine them with a sharp eye. In a similar manner did God provide for each individual animal of the class of mammalia. When such an animal is born it is extremely tender, and cannot be fed with dry food. Therefore breasts were provided which yield milk, and the young can be fed with moist food which corresponds to the condition of the limbs of the animal, until the latter have gradually become dry and hard. Many precepts in our Law are the result of a similar course adopted by the same Supreme Being. It is, namely, impossible to go suddenly from one extreme to the other; it is therefore according to the nature of man impossible for him suddenly to discontinue everything to which he has been accustomed.
“The moral precept to adopt…is: Judge, and be prepared to be judged.”
The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
What Would You Substitute for the Bible as a Moral Guide? (1900)
Context: You ask me what I would “substitute for the Bible as a moral guide.” I know that many people regard the Bible as the only moral guide and believe that in that book only can be found the true and perfect standard of morality. There are many good precepts, many wise sayings and many good regulations and laws in the Bible, and these are mingled with bad precepts, with foolish sayings, with absurd rules and cruel laws.
But we must remember that the Bible is a collection of many books written centuries apart, and that it in part represents the growth and tells in part the history of a people. We must also remember that the writers treat of many subjects. Many of these writers have nothing to say about right or wrong, about vice or virtue.
= Delacroix
Quote in 'Gazette des Beaux-Arts', Vol. xvi, (if I remember correctly)
Quotes, 1881 - 1890, Letter to Félix Fénéon', June 1890
"Does a Christian cease to be a Christian, whenever he commits a sin?" p. 65
Lectures on Systematic Theology (1878)
Source: The shaping of social organization (1987), p. 127; As cited in C.J. McNair et al. (2006) " The fall of management accounting http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=accfinwp".
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 230)