38 Moral Affections & 165 Proverbs | Script Revolution

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38 Moral Affections & 165 Proverbs

You can use this list to find a life affirming proverb that identifies the theme in your script. Yes it took me a long time to compile all these. How long? Too damn long.

Right

“Man attracts not by good dressing but by undressing evil thoughts.”

“The stupid ridicule right and wrong, but a moral life is a favored life.”

Wrong

“A man that has lost moral sense is like a man in battle with both of his legs shot off: he has nothing to stand on.”

“Morality is the custom of one’s country and the current feeling of one’s peers. Cannibalism is moral in a cannibal country.”

“Morality is the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that 99% of them are wrong.”

“Too cheerful a morality is a loose morality; it is appropriate only to decadent peoples and is found only among them.”

“The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”

“There is nothing … quite like the moral absolutism of the young. It’s easy, as a child, to believe in good and evil, in light and dark.”

“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people we personally dislike.”

“Never challenge a fool to do wrong.”

“Telling exaggeration for attraction brings destruction.”

Duty

“Self-reliance is the best medicine for self-confidence.”

“Useful learning is worth even by begging.”

“Faults are thick when love is thin.”

“Friend in need is the friend indeed.”

“Being good is more vital than just reading good.”

“Planning the ways before action is vital, but devising the means during action is fatal.”

“Proficiency creates efficiency.”

“The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they’re following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying.”

“The early bird catches the worm”

“Birds of a feather flock together”

“A new broom sweeps clean”

“If the cap fits, wear it”

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”

“The most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of duty within us”

“Duty is heavy as a mountain but Death is lighter than a feather.”

“Duty knows no family.”

Dereliction of Duty

“Morality is always the product of terror; its chains and strait-waistcoats are fashioned by those who dare not trust others, because they dare not trust themselves, to walk in liberty.”

“He falls short of his duty to both who tries to serve two masters.”

“I will do anything except bear the responsibility of guarding a house that has two doors.”

Respect

“He belongs to every body as he is kind to anybody; but when he is not kind to everybody he does not belong to anybody.”

“Respect is greater from a distance.”

“The greatest evidence of demoralization is the respect paid to wealth.”

“Antiquity is entitled to respect.”

“The poor man commands respect; the beggar must always excite anger.”

“No strength within, no respect without.”

“The wise must be respected, even when the advice they give is not suitable.”

“It is only good when the old and the young respect each other.”

“Respect flies away for the one who pursues it and hunts the person who is fleeing from it.”

“One of the surprising things in this world is the respect a worthless man has for himself.”

“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.”

“Never take a person’s dignity: it is worth everything to them, and nothing to you.”

“Respect cannot be learned, purchased or acquired – it can only be earned”

“The devil’s most devilish when respectable.”

Disrespect

“Ignoring a child’s disrespect is the surest guarantee that it will continue.”

“Disrespect cannot be commanded, it must be earned.”

“Never make excuses for someone who disrespects you-who they are or what they do isn’t a pass to treat you like trash!“

“Discourtesy does not spring merely from one bad quality, but from several–from foolish vanity, from ignorance of what is due to others, from

indolence, from stupidity, from distraction of thought, from contempt of others, from jealousy.”

“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.”

“Straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.”

“The way to avoid the imputation of impudence is not to be ashamed of what we do, but never to do what we ought to be ashamed of.”

“Mistaking insolence for freedom has always been the hallmark of the slave.”

“The insolence of wealth will creep out. “

Contempt

“Envy makes one’s virtue empty, and empathy makes the virtue entity.”

“None has grown richer by envying and no one has lost anything by not envying.”

“Anger bequeaths bitter results, but its control brings better results.”

“Let bygones be bygones”

“The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt.”

“Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people’s happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race.“

“Of all afflictions, the worst is self-contempt.”

Approbation

“Ever receive a present with approbation”

“A beaten track is a safe one.”

“Judge of the daughter by the mother.”

Disapprobation

“Never judge by appearances”

Flattery

“He that loves to be flattered is worthy of the flatterer.”

“A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.”

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

Detraction

“Telling ill of others means tilling your own grave.”

“Listening about others’ weakness exposes one’s own weakness.”

Flatterer

“He that flatters you more than you desire either has deceived you or wishes to deceive.”

“Many lick before they bite.”

“A flatterer is one who says things to your face that he wouldn’t say behind your back.”

Accusation

“A false accusation is as deadly as a sword, a club, or a sharp arrow.”

“It is an honourable thing to be accused by those who are open to accusation.”

“Even doubtful accusations leave a stain behind them.”

“He declares himself guilty who justifies himself before accusation.”

“A clear conscience fears no accusation.”

“Even after the accusation or rumour has been refuted, a suspicion nonetheless lingers.”

Probity

“Perfect conscious will never create imperfect thoughts.”

Knave

“Telling as if truth which is not true makes one’s life false.”

“When thieves fall out, their knaveries come to light.”

“The bad man always suspects knavery.”

Disinterestedness

“Laziness is the best medicine to lose opportunities.”

“Uneducated in high society is inferior to educated in low society.”

“If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall”

“There are none so blind as those who will not see”

“Make hay while the sun shines”

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

“Easily grasped are the crimes of a hog.”

Selfishness

“Unused wealth is a liability to society.”

“Noble men serve when in need, but mean men serve only when crushed indeed.”

“Power with selfishness creates egoism; power less selfishness creates respect; powerless selfishness creates meanness.”

“I think it’s a problem that people are considered immoral if they’re not religious. That’s just not true…. If you do something for a religious reason, you do it because you’ll be rewarded in an afterlife or in this world. That’s not quite as good as something you do for purely generous reasons.”

Virtue

“Virtuous life brings honour and neglect of it brings disgrace.”

“Virtuous knows the utility of his wealth to devoid others’ poverty.”

“Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.”

“Poverty is not a crime, but it’s better not to show it.”

“Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one.”

“A clear conscience is the greatest armor.”

“With virtue you can’t be entirely poor; without virtue you can’t really be rich.

“For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.

“Every virtue is but halfway between two vices.”

Vice

“Detachment to duties for attachment to lust paves for derailment of life.”

“Gambling gambles with one who gambles.”

“All that glitters is not gold”

“The grass is always greener on the other side”

“Commit a sin twice and it will not seem a crime.”

“No one ever suddenly reached the height of vice.”

“It is easier to run from virtue to vice, than from vice to virtue.”

“Vices creep into our hearts under the name of virtue.”

“Vice is nourished by concealment.”

Innocence

“Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone.”

“The innocent and the beautiful Have no enemy but time”

“A mind conscious of innocence laughs at the lies of rumor.”

“Innocence itself sometimes hath need of a mask.”

“Innocence can be an offence”

Guilt

“There’s a black sheep in every family”

“He who is guilty believes that all men speak ill of him.”

“A mind conscious of guilt is its own accuser.”

“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.”

Good Man

“Earning wealth with morality and sharing the wealth with needy keeps one’s generations happy.”

Bad Man

“Honesty is the best policy”

Penitence

“Peace and patience, and death with penitence.”

Impenitence

“Blaming spoils relationship but suggestion builds relationship.”

Temperance

“Control over temptation gets morality, and control over desire gets spirituality.”

“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”

Intemperance

“Two blacks don’t make a white”

“Forbidden fruit is the sweetest”

“Gambling with temptation takes his family to starvation.”

Sensualist

“Lust is allowed with license.”

Gluttony

“Slaughtering is created by eating it.”

“The greatest evidence of demoralization is the respect paid to wealth.

“The stingy has a big porch and little morality.”

“It’s easy enough to preach morality on a full belly.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers”

“The eye is bigger than the belly”

“Give a man enough rope and he’ll hang himself”

Impurity

“Saving a life is better then fasting for God.”

Legality

“Justice is exercised in the proper prevention, rather than in the severe punishment, of crime.”

Illegality

“Crime leaves a trail like a water beetle; like a snail, it leaves its silver track; like a horse-mango, it leaves its smell.”

“If you share your friend’s crime, you make it your own.”

“In times of trouble, leniency becomes crime.”

“Crimes may be secret, yet not secure.”

“It’s no crime to steal from a thief.”

“We carry our neighbours’ failings in sight; we throw our own crimes over our shoulders.”

“Death is nothing and pain is nothing, but cowardice is crime and disgrace, the greatest punishment.”

“A newly committed crime awakens sleeping ones.”

“The greatest crime in a desert is to find water and keep silent about it.”

“Crime does not pay… as well as politics.”

Judge

“Desperate diseases demand desperate remedies”

“Love me, love my dog”

“Crime is cunning; it puts an angel in front of every devil.”

“The act itself does not constitute a crime, unless the intent be criminal.”

Acquittal

“Men’s mistakes are tolerated by gentlemen.”

Condemnation

“The crime accuses itself.”

Punishment

“As you make your bed, so you must lie in it.”

“It is the crime that causes the shame, and not the punishment.”

“Criminals are punished, that others may be amended.”

“Punishment awaits crime.”

“A crime eats its own child.”

Reward

“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”

“Success consecrates the foulest crimes.”

“Behind every great fortune there is a crime.“

Scourge

“The greater the man, the greater the crime.”