A Quote by Henry Adams

Morality is a private and costly luxury.

Henry Adams

Quote Topics

Costly Luxury Morality Private

Quote Author

Henry Adams
American - Historian
February 16, 1838 - March 27, 1918

Luxury is the enemy of observation, a costly indulgence that induces such a good feeling that you notice nothing. Luxury spoils and infantilizes you and prevents you from knowing the world.

Paul Theroux

The founders of this nation understood that private morality is the fount from whence sound public policy springs. Replying to Washington's first inaugural address, the Senate stated: "We feel, sir, the force and acknowledge the justness of the observation that the foundation of our national policy should be lain in private morality. If individuals be not influenced by moral principles it is in vain to look for public virtue."

Thomas G. West

If you are poor, avoid wine as a costly luxury; if you are rich, shun it as a fatal indulgence. Stick to plain water.

Herman Melville

Morality did not keep well; it required stable conditions; it was costly; it was subject to variations, and the market for it was uncertain.

Mary McCarthy

Morality is a luxury we can't afford out here. There's no right or wrong, just survival or death.

Peter Milligan

I didn't want people to say: Stelios does everything on the cheap at work, and in private he lives in the lap of luxury. That's not me. I don't need those status symbols. I don't need a private jet either when I can go everywhere with Easy.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou

No logo, and you don't advertise for anyone. I don't believe in imposed luxury. I believe in built luxury. Something you refine with your own taste. Mass luxury is not my luxury.

Lapo Elkann

A private jet is not a luxury; it is a necessity.

T. S. Kalyanaraman

The most costly disease is boredom costly for both individual and society.

Norman Cousins

Just like I gave Jack Ma and Alibaba the luxury of staying private for longer, I am now giving Arm the gift of being private. My only message to them now is take my investment and let's go, go, go.

Masayoshi Son

Sometimes truth is costly but not nearly as costly as deception.

Beth Moore

Most brands that are called luxury brands today are not true luxury brands. The globalization of fashion and luxury means you now find the same luxury brands in every city. The stores look the same, the products are the same. It is still a very good quality product but it is now readily available to everyone. It's a kind of mass luxury.

Monita Rajpal

Luxury is obviously the direction that interests me the most, but there is a lot of confusion between luxury and exhibitionism. For me, the concept of luxury is more traditional, more exclusive, more sophisticated than luxury for the masses.

Giorgio Armani

The foundations of national morality must be laid in private families.

John Adams

The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Government governs best when it governs least – and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone’s version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.