Speak with goodwill
Let truthful speech be motivated by care rather than cruelty, revenge, or humiliation.
Skip to atlas contentM427 · Buddhist Moral Discipline M195 · Professional and Computing Ethics M508 · Engineering and Technology Professional Ethics M578 · Seventh-day Adventist Whole-Life Ethics M342 · African Communal Duties and Peoples' Ethics M149 · Community, Education and Spiritual Responsibility M236 · Religious Community and Leadership Ethics M309 · Ethics of Ageing and Older Persons M493 · Tenrikyo Joyous-Life Ethics M359 · Moral Education and Conscience M390 · Tolerance, Pluralism and Peace Education M019 · Truth, Speech and Knowledge M001 · Truth, Speech and Knowledge M610 · Eckankar Spiritual Freedom and Responsibility M430 · Buddhist Moral Discipline M521 · Nichiren Buddhist Human Revolution M436 · Bodhisattva Ethics M560 · Unity and New Thought Spiritual Practice M403 · Duties to Future Generations M421 · Cultural and Natural Heritage Stewardship M442 · Universal Responsibility and Compassion M480 · Earth Community and Ecological Integrity M518 · Quaker Testimony Ethics M588 · Cao Dai Love, Justice and Religious Harmony
WORLD MORALS EDITION XXI
World Morals — a shared human inquiry
An interactive atlas of moral teachings across the world's religious and secular traditions — from ancient scriptures to modern ethics.
Comparative atlas · Original English corpus · Evidence before conclusions
A mapping is not a verified quotation. Workbook labels are preserved. An absent mapping does not mean rejection. We do not rank the moral worth of any system.
- Moral teachings
- 610
- Religious systems
- 52
- Nonreligious systems
- 41
- Source evidence rows
- 10620
Many traditions. One invitation to understand.
Find a teaching, follow its source anchors, and explore common ground without erasing differences. Every number describes only the systems represented in this edition.
610 teachings found · Edition XXI
State estimates and limitations honestly
Do not exaggerate certainty, capability, cost, schedule, performance, or safety.
State technical claims honestly and realistically
Base estimates, claims, forecasts, and representations on available evidence without distortion.
Steward time, abilities, property, and natural resources
Manage personal capacities, possessions, opportunities, and the environment responsibly for service and future well-being.
Strengthen mutual respect and tolerance
Maintain relationships that promote tolerance, reciprocity, social trust, and peaceful coexistence.
Support reconciliation between groups
Repair inherited hostility and social division.
Support recovery from addiction
Respond to addiction with accountability, treatment, compassion, and community support.
Support self-fulfillment throughout life
Preserve opportunities for learning, creativity, spirituality, and meaningful contribution in old age.
Sweep away selfish habits of mind
Recognize and reduce greed, anger, hatred, partiality, and other habits that obstruct compassionate living.
Teach moral values by example
Demonstrate honesty, kindness, restraint, and responsibility so moral education is embodied rather than merely stated.
Teach peaceful conflict transformation
Develop knowledge and skills for dialogue, mediation, nonviolent action, and reconciliation.
Teach truth responsibly
Transmit knowledge accurately and without coercive manipulation.
Tell the truth
Speak and act honestly rather than intentionally misleading others.
Test spiritual teachings through personal experience
Examine spiritual claims through sincere practice, reflection, experience, and responsible judgment rather than coercion.
Train conduct before seeking higher insight
Treat basic moral discipline as a necessary foundation for concentration, wisdom, and spiritual development.
Transform oneself to transform society
Change destructive habits and cultivate courage, wisdom, and compassion as the basis for social improvement.
Transform personal virtue into service
Use discipline, wisdom, patience, generosity, and compassion for the benefit of others.
Translate spiritual oneness into racial equality
Make belief in human unity visible through opposition to racism, inequity, and discriminatory conduct.
Transmit a habitable Earth
Protect ecological systems so future generations inherit conditions capable of supporting life, health, and flourishing.
Transmit heritage to future generations
Preserve cultural and natural heritage so future generations can know, use, interpret, and appreciate it.
Treat all humanity as one family
Place shared human dignity and common vulnerability above divisive identity or ideology.
Treat all living beings with respect and consideration
Avoid cruelty and unnecessary harm to animals and recognize the moral significance of nonhuman life.
Treat every person as equally precious
Recognize equal spiritual worth and the gifts each person can contribute.
Treat humanity as one spiritual family
Regard people across nations and religions as brothers and sisters sharing a common divine origin.