Business Ethics Quotes
Top 40 Business Ethics Quotes
No 1 (Best quote!)![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-confucius.jpg)
The superior man understands righteousness; the inferior man understands profit.
- Confucius (551–479 BC) Chinese
philosopher, pictured right
No 2
What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?,
- Jesus (c4 BC-c30 AD), founder
of Christianity.
No 3![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-einstein.jpg)
Try not to become a man of success but try to become a man of value.
- Albert
Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American scientist (pictured right)
No 4
Better a little with righteousness than great revenues without right
(Book of Proverbs 16:8)
- the Bible.
No 5![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-schweitzer.jpg)
What matters is whether your soul is harmed by what you do.
- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965),
pictured right, German doctor, missionary and philosopher
No 6![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-shakespeare.jpg)
Policy sits above conscience.
(First Stranger in Timon of
Athens)
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right
Gratiano also says in Shakespeare's The Merchant of
Venice :
You have too much respect upon the world: They lose it that do buy it with much care.
No 7![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-boesky.jpg)
Greed is all right…Greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.
- Ivan F. Boesky (1937- ), American businessman, pictured right
![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-gekko.jpg)
Gordon Gekko (in the film Wall Street, pictured right) said something
similar:
Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.
No 8![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-gekko.jpg)
It’s all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation.
Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, pictured right) in the film Wall Street (1987) ,pictured right
No 9![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-roddick.jpg)
The business of business should not just be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about
public good, not private greed.
- Anita Roddick (1942-
2007), founder of the Body Shop, the British cosmetics chain, pictured right.
![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-bagehot.jpg)
No 10
Capital must be propelled by self-interest; it cannot be enticed by benevolence.
- Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English economist, pictured right
No 11![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-morita.jpg)
The company must not throw away money on huge bonuses for executives or other frivolities but must share its
fate with the workers.
- Akio Morita (1921-1999), co-founder of Sony,
pictured right.
No 12![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-solomon.jpg)
To be good in business is to be a good human being.
- Robert Solomon, pictured right, in Ethics and Excellence (1992)
No 13![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-thurlow.jpg)
Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned, they therefore do as they like.
- Edward, Lord Thurlow (1731–1806) English lawyer and politician, pictured right
![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-galbraith.jpg)
J. K. Galbraith (1908-2006), pictured right, said
something similar in The New Industrial State (1967):
Individuals have souls; corporations are notably soulless.
No 14![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-penney.jpg)
Profits must come through public confidence, and public confidence is given to any merchant in proportion to the
service which he gives to the public.
- J.C. Penney (1875-1971),
co-founder of the American department store, J.C. Penney, pictured right.
![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-blanchard.jpg)
No 15
If we have to cheat to win then we’d better think twice about what we’re doing.![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-peale.jpg)
- Kenneth Blanchard (pictured right above) and
Norman Vincent Peale (pictured right), The Power of Ethical Management (1988).
No 16![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-kroc.jpg)
I believe in God, family and McDonald’s, and in the office that order is reversed.
- Ray Kroc (founder of McDonald’s), pictured right.
No 17![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-greenleaf.jpg)
Ethics in business (or anywhere else) starts with a person.
- Bob Greenleaf (American
management writer), pictured right.
No 18![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-shakespeare.jpg)
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
(Mariana in All’s Well That Ends Well).
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right
No 19![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-gandhi.jpg)
Organizations, like men, if they are to command respect and grow, must have a sense of honour and must fulfil
their promises.
- Mahatma ( Mohandas)
Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian leader and philosopher, pictured right.
No 20![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-keynes.jpg)
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the
wickedest of men will do the wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
- John Maynard Keynes (1889-1945), English economist
(pictured right).
No 21![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-truman.jpg)
There never was, never has been, never will
be, room for the ruthless exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.
- Harry S. Truman,
American president 1945-53 (pictured right).
No 22![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-stowe.jpg)
I’ve got just as much conscience as any man in business can afford to
keep.
(Mr. Haley, the slave trader, in Uncle Tom's Cabin)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-96),
American writer, pictured right
No 23![Business Ethiics Quotes Business Ethiics Quotes](images/quotessol.jpg)
Capitalism was doomed ethically before it was doomed economically, a long time ago.
(from Cancer Ward, 1968)
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Russian writer, pictured right.
No 24![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-shakespeare.jpg)
Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.
(the Duke in Measure for
Measure)
- William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright,
pictured right
No 25![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-garrison.jpg)
Man above all institutions!
- William Lloyd
Garrison (1805-79), American abolitionist (pictured right)
No 26![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-roosevelt-fd.jpg)
Dulled conscience, irresponsibility and ruthless self-interest already reappear.
Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster!
- Franklin D.
Roosevelt (1882-1945), American president 1933-45 (pictured right).
No 27![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-schweitzer.jpg)
We cannot abdicate our conscience to an organization, nor a government.
- Albert
Schweitzer (1875-1965), pictured right, German doctor, missionary and philosopher
No 28![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-dickens.jpg)
Do other men for they would do you. That’s the true business precept
(Jonas Chuzzlewit in Martin Chuzzlewit).
- Charles Dickens (1812–70),
English novelist, pictured right
No 29![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-goldsmith.jpg)
Honour sinks where commerce long prevails
- Oliver Goldsmith (1730-74), Irish poet, pictured right (from his 1764 poem, The
Traveller)
No 30![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-roosevelt-ted.jpg)
The great development of industrialism means there must be an increase in the
supervision exercised by the Government over business enterprise.
- Theodore
Roosevelt (1858-1919), American president 1901-9 (pictured right).
No 31 ![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-hume.jpg)
Avarice, the spur of industry.
- David Hume (pictured right),
Scottish philosopher, in his essay, Of Civil Liberty (1742)
No 32![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotespagebuseth2.jpg)
We have a mantra: don't be evil, which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers,
for everyone.
- Larry Page (1973- ), co-founder of Google (pictured
right)
No 33![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-burke.jpg)
When bad men combine, the good must associate.
- Edmund Burke (1729-97),
Irish-born British Member of Parliament (pictured right).
No 34![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-hobbes.jpg)
Profit is the measure of right.
- Thomas
Hobbes (1588-1679), English philosopher (pictured right).
No 35![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-kant.jpg)
By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man.
- Immanuel
Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher (pictured right).
No 36![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-curie.jpg)
Each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all
humanity.
- Marie Curie (1867-1934),
Polish-born French physicist (pictured right).
No 37![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-dickens.jpg)
Unless we do our duty to those whom we employ, they will never learn to do their duty to us.
(David talking to Dora in David
Copperfield).
- Charles Dickens (1812-70),
pictured right, English writer
No 38![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-shakespeare.jpg)
If I lose my honour, I lose myself,
(Mark Antony. in Antony and
Cleopatra)
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right
Pompey also comments in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra
Tis not my profit that does lead my honour.
No 39![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-odonnell-costner.jpg)
Men of good will. That’s all there is between us and the devil.
- Kenny O’Donnell (in the 2000 film Thirteen Days), pictured right.
No 40![Business Ethics Quotes Business Ethics Quotes](images/quotes-drucker.jpg)
It is vision and moral responsibility that, in the final analysis, define the manager.
- Peter Drucker (pictured right) in
The Practice of Management
(1954)
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