Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character. - George Santayana
The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it. - Ayn Ranc
Not taking the Bible (or other texts based on 'revealed truths') literally leaves it up to the reader to cherry-pick elements for belief. There exists no guide for such cherry-picking, and zero religious sanction for it. - Jeffrey Tayler
I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction. - Ayn Rand
Though a good motive cannot sanction a bad action, a bad motive will always vitiate a good action. In common and trivial matters we may act without motives, but in momentous ones the most careful deliberation is wisdom.
Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. - George Santayana
Without cultural sanction, most or all our religious beliefs and rituals would fall into the domain of mental disturbance.