26 Quotes by Sissela Bok

Deceit and violence - these are the two forms of deliberate assault on human beings.

Trust is a social good to be protected just as much as the air we breathe or the water we drink. When it is damaged, the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse

Trust is a social good to be protected just as much as the air we breathe or the water we drink. When it is damaged, the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse.

Deceit and violence – these are the two forms of deliberate assault on human beings.

America may be the only society on earth to have experienced what has been called an ‘epidemic of children killing children,’ which is ravaging some of its communities today.

When we undertake to deceive others intentionally, we communicate messages meant to mislead them, meant to make them believe what we ourselves do not believe. We can do so through gesture, through disguise, by means of action or inaction, even through silence.

To mature is in part to realize that while complete intimacy and omniscience and power cannot be had, self-transcendence, growth, and closeness to others are nevertheless within one’s reach.

The role that one assigns to truthfulness will always remain central in considering what kind of person one wants to be – how one wishes to treat, not only other people, but oneself.