“Ethics is a skill”

“How you doing at 26 Fed?" “I’m growing and learning, meeting new challenges with confidence and enthusiasm while developing good work ethics and people skills.” “I’m surprised they haven’t fired your ass.” “Me too.”

“There is absolutely no single aspect of one’s personality that is more important to develop than empathy, which is not a skill at which men typically are asked to excel. I believe empathy is not only the core of art, literature and music, but should also be at the core of society, from ethics to economics.”

“British diplomats, constantly exposed to American political-ethical rhetoric, find their professional skills tested to the limits by the need to keep a straight face. For illustrations of what I mean, study the photographs of the expressions worn by Mr Douglas Hurd at any international conference involving all the Western allies.”

“Thinking like ethical people, dressing like ethical people, decorating our homes like ethical people makes not a damn of difference unless we also behave like ethical people.”

“An ethics of desire is good news for those of us who have become allergic to an ethics of law.”