What most needs explanation is not why some people are criminals, but why most people are not.
James Q. WilsonRead
Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character.
Interpretation
Society's moral decay leads to crime when character is neglected.
This quote suggests that the increase in crime within a society is directly linked to a decline in moral character among its members. When individuals prioritize personal interests over communal values and ethics, the fabric of society weakens, resulting in higher instances of criminal behavior as the moral compass falters.
In practice
In a discussion about crime rates on a podcast, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of character in society.
What most needs explanation is not why some people are criminals, but why most people are not.
Boys are more likely to develop a masculine personality and acquire strong moral standards when they have a loving and nurturant rather than a threatening or fear-inspiring father.
I'm happy to respect authority when it's genuine authority, based on moral or intellectual or even technical superiority. I'm eager to follow a hero if we can find one. But I tend to resist or evade any kind of authority based merely on the power to coerce. Government, for example. The Army tried to train us to salute the uniform, not the man. Failed. I will salute the man, maybe, if I think he's worthy of it, but I don't salute uniforms anymore.
A moral character is attached to autumnal scenes; the leaves falling like our years, the flowers fading like our hours, the clouds fleeting like our illusions, the light diminishing like our intelligence, the sun growing colder like our affections, the rivers becoming frozen like our lives--all bear secret relations to our destinies.
There are, no doubt, as many conceptualizations of the good life as there are lives that aspire to it, but surely one of the most important pathways to its achievement begins with the desire to seek what is good - for the self, for those we love, for 'our neighbor,' for our earth.
The idea of a cure for autism is itself controversial. Some people with autism say they don't want to be cured, because autism gives them a different way of looking at the world.
Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?
The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings. He knows that he is going to die, and her has nothing left to hold on to: no illusions in his mind, no resistances in his body. He doesn't think about his actions; they flow from the core of his being. He holds nothing back from life; therefore he is ready for death, as a man is ready for sleep after a good day's work.
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