How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #1
I really cannot bear an immoral man. I am not a Pharisee, I hope; and I should not have minded his merely doing wrong things: we are none of us perfect. But your father didn't exactly do wrong things: he said them and thought them: that was what was so dreadful. He really had a sort of religion of wrongness. Just as one doesn't mind men practising immorality so long as they own that they are in the wrong by preaching morality; so I couldn't forgive Andrew for preaching immorality while he practised morality. You would all have grown up without principles, without any knowledge of right and wrong, if he had been in the house. You know, my dear, your father was a very attractive man in some ways. Children did not dislike him; and he took advantage of it to put the wickedest ideas into their heads, and make them quite unmanageable. I did not dislike him myself: very far from it; but nothing can bridge over moral disagreement. (1.67)
Lady B lets us know right off the bat that she has a very firm sense of right and wrong, and it runs directly counter to her husband's. Her children seem to share her views that Andrew Undershaft is a thoroughly immoral man—for now.
Quote #2
LOMAX [to Barbara, still rather shocked]: Yes; but what about the cannon business, don't you know? [To Undershaft]: Getting into heaven is not exactly in your line, is it?
LADY BRITOMART: Charles!!!
LOMAX: Well; but it stands to reason, don't it? The cannon business may be necessary and all that: we can't get on without cannons; but it isn't right, you know. On the other hand, there may be a certain amount of tosh about the Salvation Army—I belong to the Established Church myself—but still you can't deny that it's religion; and you can't go against religion, can you? At least unless you're downright immoral, don't you know. (1.206-208)
It seems that Charles Lomax is definitely hopping on the bandwagon with the opinion that Undershaft is immoral, pointing to Andy's profession and how it "goes against religion" as evidence. He admits that he thinks cannons are necessary, but they still aren't "right." Hmm, that seems like a bit of a contradiction, doesn't it?
Quote #3
Not at all. The more destructive war becomes the more fascinating we find it. No, Mr. Lomax, I am obliged to you for making the usual excuse for my trade; but I am not ashamed of it. I am not one of those men who keep their morals and their business in watertight compartments. All the spare money my trade rivals spend on hospitals, cathedrals and other receptacles for conscience money, I devote to experiments and researches in improved methods of destroying life and property. I have always done so; and I always shall. Therefore your Christmas card moralities of peace on earth and goodwill among men are of no use to me. Your Christianity, which enjoins you to resist not evil, and to turn the other cheek, would make me a bankrupt. My morality—my religion—must have a place for cannons and torpedoes in it. (1.213)
In response to Charles's "excuse" for his immoral profession, Undershaft says he refuses to be ashamed or hypocritical about it. Apparently, some of his peers try to redeem themselves by making a display of using their profits to donate to humanitarian causes (indicating some level of shame or contrition for how they make their money)…Well, Andy doesn't play that way. He puts profits back into his business, refusing to make apologetic gestures for something he doesn't find to be wrong.