It appears evident, therefore, that those actions only can truly be called virtuous, and deserving of moral approbation, which the agent believed to be right, and to which he was influenced, more or less, by that belief.
Interpretation
Moral actions are determined by the agent's belief in their righteousness.
This quote by Thomas Reid emphasizes the importance of belief in determining the morality of an action. It suggests that true virtue lies not only in the actions themselves but significantly in the agent's understanding and conviction that those actions are morally right. Therefore, for an action to be deemed virtuous, it must stem from a genuine belief in its righteousness, as mere compliance without conviction lacks moral worth.
In practice
During a philosophy class discussion on ethics.
There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words. To this chiefly it is owing that we find sects and parties in most branches of science [and politics]; and disputes that are carried on from age to age, without being brought to issue.
The laws of nature are the rules according to which the effects are produced; but there must be a cause which operates according to these rules. The laws of navigation never navigated a ship. The rules of architecture never built a house.
Every indication of wisdom, taken from the effect, is equally an indication of power to execute what wisdom planned.
We say that a girl with her doll anticipates the mother. It is more true, perhaps, that most mothers are still but children with playthings.
Spirituality is not a question of morality, it is a question of vision. Spirituality is not the practising of virtues - because if you practise a virtue it is no longer a virtue. A practised virtue is a dead thing, a dead weight. Virtue is virtue only when it is spontaneous; virtue is virtue only when it is natural, unpractised - when it comes out of your vision, out of your awareness, out of your understanding.
I do not believe in race as such. Race is a fraud. All modern people are the conglomeration of so many ethnic mixtures that no pure race remains.
All religions and cultures suffer from sources that preach hate against the 'other.' Throughout history some have, tragically, practiced what their sources preached, while some have sought to dismiss or even counteract the hateful words of their sources.
The duty of helping one's self in the highest sense involves the helping of one's neighbors.
For what's the point of breeding children, if each generation does not improve on what went before.
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