We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
Potter StewartRead
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ethics involves understanding the distinction between legal rights and moral obligations.
This quote emphasizes that ethics is not just about understanding what is legally permissible; it also entails recognizing moral responsibilities. It calls for individuals to reflect on their actions and consider not only their rights but also the implications of their choices on others, thus cultivating a deeper understanding of moral integrity.
Themes
EthicsRightMoralityResponsibilityIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on moral issues, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of ethical considerations beyond legality.
More from Potter Stewart
All quotes βA person's mere propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity does not give rise to probable cause to search that person.
Potter StewartRead
It must always be remembered that what the Constitution forbids is not all searches and seizures, but unreasonable searches and seizures.
Potter StewartRead
Swift justice demands more than just swiftness.
Potter StewartRead
The 4th Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.
Potter StewartRead
For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected.
Potter StewartRead
Similar quotes
It is good to be charitable; but to whom? That is the point. As to the ungrateful, there is not one who does not at last die miserable.
Jean De La FontaineRead
It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
When you feel expansion of your consciousness, that is the most ecstatic experience possible, because suddenly you are the whole universe. Stars are within you. The sun rises within you and sets within you. The earth moves within you. The flowers blossom within you.
RajneeshRead
Even people who say that black people are minorities, there are a billion black people in the world. A billion white people. What part of that is a minority? If you separate yourself, then maybe. But I see black people as one man. When I see people beaten on the streets of America, that hurts me. I feel that.
Daniel KaluuyaRead
Nobody knows what you want except you. And nobody will be as sorry as you if you don't get it. Wanting some other way to live is proof enough of deserving it. Having it is hard work, but not having it is sheer hell.
Lillian HellmanRead
There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in - that we do it to God, to Christ, and that's why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.
Mother TeresaRead