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  ...Boston maintained, wholly on the side of gold; but, had they been ten times as great as they were, he could not have helped his bankers or croupiers to load the dice and pack the cards to make sure his winning the stakes. At least he was bound to profess disapproval -- or thought he was. From early childhood his moral principles had struggled blindly with his interests, but he was certain of one law that ruled all others -- masses of men invariably follow interests in deciding morals. Morality is a private and costly luxury.   The morality of the silver or gold standards was to be decided by popular vote, and the popular vote would be decided by interests; but on which side lay the larger interest? To him the interest was political; he thought it probably his last chance of standing up for his eighteenth-century principles, strict construction, limited powers, George Washington, John Adams, and the rest. He had, in a half-hearted way, struggled all his life against State Street, banks, capitalism altogether,...   Adams, Henry Brooks

Excerpt from The Education of Henry Adams · This quote is about morality · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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