Cicero: “For the question no longer concerns the wrath of the gods (for there is no such thing) but the obligations of justice…”

Thus apparent expediency is outweighed when placed in the balance against moral rectitude.

For self-control is the foe of the passions, and the passions are the handmaids of pleasure.

For no phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all…

But for all cases we have one rule, with which I desire you to be perfectly familiar: that which seems expedient must not be morally wrong; or, if it is morally wrong, it must not seem expedient.