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The core of ethics runs deep in our species and is common to human beings everywhere. It survives the most appalling hardships and the most ruthless attempts to deprive human beings of their humanity. Nevertheless, some people resist the idea that his core has a biological basis which we have inherited from our pre-human ancestors.

— Peter Singer The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

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More quotes by Peter Singer

If evolution is a struggle for survival, why hasn't it ruthlessly eliminated altruists, who seem to increase another's prospects of survival at the cost of their own?

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

Since ancient times, philosophers have maintained that to strive too hard for one's own happiness is self-defeating.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

The principles of ethics come from our own nature as social, reasoning beings.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

Science does not stand still, and neither does philosophy, although the latter has a tendency to walk in circles.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

There can be no brotherhood when some nations indulge in previously unheard of luxuries, while others struggle to stave off famine.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Peter Singer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.