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Ethical maxims are bandied about as a sort of current coin of discourse, and, being never melted down for use, those that are of base metal are never detected.

Richard Whately

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Richard Whately
Age: 76 †
Born: 1787
Born: February 1
Died: 1863
Died: October 8
Economist
Philosopher
Priest
Theologian
London
England
Never
Metals
Discourse
Bandied
Base
Detected
Ethical
Melted
Current
Coin
Currents
Maxims
Sort
Coins
Use
Metal

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Honesty is the best policy but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.
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It is folly to expect men to do all that they may reasonably be expected to do.
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He that is not open to conviction is not qualified for discussion.
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There is no right faith in believing what is true, unless we believe it because it is true.
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It is generally true that all that is required to make men unmindful of what they owe to God for any blessing, is, that they should receive that blessing often and regularly.
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When a man says he wants to work, what he means is that he wants wages.
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Even supposing there were some spiritual advantage in celibacy, it ought to be completely voluntary.
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A fanatic, either, religious or political, is the subject of strong delusions.
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Controversy, though always an evil in itself, is sometimes a necessary evil.
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The more secure we feel against our liability to any error to which, in fact, we are liable, the greater must be our danger of falling into it.
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The word of knowledge, strictly employed, implies three things: truth, proof, and conviction.
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It is a remarkable circumstance in reference to cunning persons that they are often deficient not only in comprehensive, far-sighted wisdom, but even in prudent, cautious circumspection.
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As the telescope is not a substitute for, but an aid to, our sight, so revelation is not designed to supersede the use of reason, but to supply its deficiencies.
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It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary.
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Everyone wishes to have truth on his side, but not everyone wishes to be on the side of truth.
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All gaming, since it implies a desire to profit at the expense of another, involves a breach of the tenth commandment.
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Happiness is no laughing matter.
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That is suitable to a man, in point of ornamental expense, not which he can afford to have, but which he can afford to lose.
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The first requisite of style, not only in rhetoric, but in all compositions, is perspicuity.
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Better too much form than too little.
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