“Exteriorly man’s being has many different sides: activity or passivity; truthfulness or a tendency to lie; sincerity or insincerity; courage, cowardice; selfcontrol, profligacy; irritability, egoism, readiness for self-sacrifice, pride, vanity, conceit, industry, laziness, MORALITY, depravity; all these and much more besides make up the being of man. Fragments: Four
“The concept ‘conscience’ has nothing in common with the concept ‘MORALITY.’ Fragments: Eight
“There is nothing general in the concept of ‘MORALITY.’ Morality consists of buffers. There is no general MORALITY. What is moral in China is immoral in Europe and what is moral in Europe is immoral in China. What is moral in Petersburg is immoral in the Caucasus. And what is moral in the Caucasus is immoral in Petersburg. What is moral in one class of society is immoral in another and vice versa. Morality is always and everywhere an artificial phenomenon. It consists of various ‘taboos,’ that is, restrictions, and various demands, sometimes sensible in their basis and sometimes having lost all meaning or never even having had any meaning, and having been created on a false basis, on a soil of superstition and false fears. Fragments: Eight
“Morality consists of ‘buffers.’ And since ‘buffers’ are of various kinds, and as the conditions of life in different countries and in different ages or among different classes of society vary considerably, so the MORALITY created by them is also very dissimilar and contradictory. A MORALITY common to all does not exist. It is even impossible to say that there exists any general idea of MORALITY, for instance, in Europe. It is said sometimes that the general MORALITY for Europe is ‘Christian MORALITY.’ But first of all the idea of ‘Christian MORALITY’ itself admits of very many different interpretations and many different crimes have been justified by ‘Christian MORALITY.’ And in the second place modern Europe has very little in common with ‘Christian MORALITY,’ no matter how we understand this MORALITY. Fragments: Eight
“In any case, if ‘Christian MORALITY’ brought Europe to the war which is now going on, then it would be as well to be as far as possible from such MORALITY,” Fragments: Eight
“Many people say that they do not understand the moral side of your teaching,” said one of us. “And others say that your teaching has no MORALITY at all.” Fragments: Eight
“Of course not,” said G. “People are very fond of talking about MORALITY. But MORALITY is merely self-suggestion. What is necessary is conscience. We do not teach MORALITY. We teach how to find conscience. People are not pleased when we say this. They say that we have no love. Simply because we do not encourage weakness and hypocrisy but, on the contrary, take off all masks. He who desires the truth will not speak of love or of Christianity because he knows how far he is from these. Christian teaching is for Christians. And Christians are those who live, that is, who do everything, according to Christ’s precepts. Can they who talk of love and MORALITY live according to Christ’s precepts? Of course they cannot; but there will always be talk of this kind, there will always be people to whom words are more precious than anything else. But this is a true sign! He who speaks like this is an empty man; it is not worth while wasting time on him. Fragments: Eight
“Morality and conscience are quite different things. One conscience can never contradict another conscience. One MORALITY can always very easily contradict and completely deny another. A man with ‘buffers’ may be very moral. And ‘buffers’ can be very different, that is, two very moral men may consider each other very immoral. As a rule it is almost inevitably so. The more ‘moral’ a man is, the more ‘immoral’ does he think other moral people. Fragments: Eight
“The idea of MORALITY is connected with the idea of good and evil conduct. But the idea of good and evil is always different for different people, always subjective in man number one, number two, and number three, and is connected only with a given moment or a given situation. A subjective man can have no general concept of good and evil. For a subjective man evil is everything that is opposed to his desires or interests or to his conception of good. Fragments: Eight
“This consciousness of one’s nothingness alone can conquer the fear of subordination to the will of another. However strange it may seem, this fear is actually one of the most serious obstacles on a man’s path. A man is afraid that he will be made to do things that are opposed to his principles, views, and ideas. Moreover, this fear immediately creates in him. the illusion that he really has principles, views, and convictions which in reality he never has had and never could have. A man who has never in his life thought of MORALITY suddenly begins to fear that he will be made to do something immoral. A man who has never thought of his health and who has done everything possible to ruin it begins to fear that he will be made to do something which will injure it. A man who has lied to everyone, everywhere, all his life in the most barefaced manner begins suddenly to fear that he will be made to tell lies, and so on without end. I knew a drunkard who was afraid more than anything else that he would be made to drink. Fragments: Eight
“And besides there is deception in the very words ‘moral’ and ‘spiritual’ themselves. I have often enough explained before that in speaking of machines one cannot begin with their ‘MORALITY’ or their ‘spirituality,’ but that one must begin with their mechanicalness and the laws governing this mechanicalness. The being of man number one, number two, and number three is the being of machines which are able to cease being machines but which have not ceased being machines.” Fragments: Seventeen
“People of the objective way simply live in life. They are those whom we call good people. Particular systems and methods are not necessary for them; making use of ordinary religious or intellectual teachings and ordinary MORALITY, they live at the same time according to conscience. They do not of necessity do much good, but they do no evil. Sometimes they happen to be quite uneducated, simple people but they understand life very well, they have a right valuation of things and a right outlook. And they are of course perfecting themselves and evolving. Only their way can be very long with many unnecessary repetitions.” Fragments: Seventeen