Moral Obligation Quotes

The moral duty of the free writer is to begin his work at home: to be a critic of his own community, his own country, his own government, his own culture. The more freedom the writer possesses, the greater the moral obligation to play the role of critic.
- Edward Abbey

...Let me say that I do think decency and civilization would insist that the writer take sides with the powerless. Clearly, there's no moral obligation to write in any particular way. But there is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless. I think an artist, in my definition of that word, would not be someone who takes sides with the emperor against his powerless subjects.
- Chinua Achebe

There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.
- Chinua Achebe

Writing has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world.
- Chinua Achebe

He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.
- Samuel Adams

A man should live his life a certain way not because of some divine authority, but because of a personal moral obligation to himself and others.
- Jodi Picoult

I think we have a moral obligation to our children that can be easily summarized: number one, protect them from harm.
- Tom Allen

It is our moral obligation to give every child the very best education possible.
- Desmond Tutu

Voting is the most precious right of every citizen, and we have a moral obligation to ensure the integrity of our voting process.
- Hillary Clinton

You have to pick the stories that you want to be involved with and the end game is you'd like to be a part of a hit. But I think your moral obligation is to follow your own heart.
- Kevin Costner

I believe that the United States has a moral obligation to stand up for those citizens of the world who cannot stand up for themselves, and I am proud to have authored the bill signed into law today that continues to put significant pressure on the brutal Burmese military junta.
- Joseph Crowley

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.
- Martin Luther King Jr

We as a Congress have a moral obligation to bring justice to the families of these victims. Furthermore, as a society based on laws, we have a responsibility to ensure that criminals don't go unpunished.
- Bob Filner

We do not think clearly about our moral obligations to animals.
- Gary L Francione

Those who have prospered and profited from life's lottery have a moral obligation to share their good fortune.
- Dick Gephardt

If a policy is wrongheaded, feckless and corrupt, I take it personally and consider it a moral obligation to sound off and not shut up until it's fixed.
- David Hackworth

I was raised by my parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try and help save the world.
- Anne Lamott

If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you're a writer you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary acttruth is always subversive.
- Anne Lamott

The writer's job is to write with rigor, with commitment, to defend what they believe with all the talent they have. I think that's part of the moral obligation of a writer, which cannot be only purely artistic. I think a writer has some kind of responsibility at least to participate in the civic debate. I think literature is impoverished, if it becomes cut from the main agenda of people, of society, of life.
- Mario Vargas Llosa

We have a responsibility as a state to protect our most vulnerable citizens: our children, seniors, people with disabilities. That is our moral obligation. But there is an economic justification too - we all pay when the basic needs of our citizens are unmet.
- John Lynch

Of two pleasures, if there be one which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation to prefer it, that is the more desirable pleasure.
- John Stuart Mill

We not only have a legal obligation to honor our commitments, we have a moral obligation to provide the coverage we promised to provide to these people.
- Bob Ney

The first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man's first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men.
- Ayn Rand

I see man as a hero. With his own happiness as his moral obligation; productive achievementbas his noblest activity and reason as the only absolute.
- Ayn Rand

A bold reform agenda is our moral obligation. If we make the case effectively and win this November, then we will have the moral authority to enact the kind of fundamental reforms America has not seen since Ronald Reagan's first year.
- Paul Ryan

Americans are blessed with great plenty; we are a generous people and we have a moral obligation to assist those who are suffering from poverty, disease, war and famine.
- Adam Schiff

We can't have moral obligations to every single person in this world. We have moral obligations to those who we come up against, who enter into our moral space, so to speak. That means neighbors, people we deal with, and so on.
- Alexander Mccall Smith