When some English moralists write about the importance of having character, they appear to mean only the importance of having a dull character.
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Those who still eat flesh when they could do otherwise have no claim to be serious moralists.
The corrupt, when found out, become especially good moralists.
pierre stephen robert payneGustav Aschenbach was the writer who spoke for all those who work on the brink of exhaustion, who labor and are heavy-laden, who are worn out already but still stand upright, all those moralists of achievement who are slight of stature and scanty of resources, but who yet, by some ecstasy of the will and by wise husbandry , manage at least for a time to force their work into a semblance of greatness.
thomas mannI cannot be convinced that great artists are moralists. Art is first appearances, then meaning.
camille pagliaThe infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
bertrand russellGustav Aschenbach was the writer who spoke for all those who work on the brink of exhaustion, who labor and are heavy-laden, who are worn out already but still stand upright, all those moralists of achievement who are slight of stature and scanty of resources, but who yet, by some ecstasy of the will and by wise husbandry, manage at least for a time to force their work into a semblance of greatness.
One has said that Christ excelled all other moralists in this, that He puts the padlock not upon the hand, but upon the heart. But He does not use the padlock at all, He renders such a thing unnecessary. He takes the tiger from the heart, and replaces it with the lamb.
I like to present my characters whether they are in the past or in the future with interesting moral choices, and it seems to me that science-fiction writers are, or should be, the prophets and moralists of today. I am fairly well up on the biological sciences, but I am deeply uninterested in gadgets. A writer's job is to write about people with sympathy and insight.
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
bertrand russellThe modern moralists extol … the cult of practical activity in defiance of the disinterested life.
julien bendaCynics are all moralists, and merciless too.
indro montanelli