How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Now, in regard to his pursuit of women, [Drouet] meant them no harm, because he did not conceive of the relation which he hoped to hold with them as being harmful. He loved to make advances to women, to have them succumb to his charms, not because he was a cold-blooded, dark, scheming villain, but because his inborn desire urged him to that as a chief delight. (7.4)
This suggests that desire and pleasure seeking can be the real motivations for committing acts that may be harmful, rather than "cold-blooded" impulses. No wonder harmful acts occur so frequently.
Quote #2
Habits are peculiar things […] the victim of habit, when he has neglected the thing which it was his custom to do, feels a little scratching in the brain, a little irritating something which comes of being out of the rut, and imagines it to be the prick of conscience, the still, small voice that is urging him ever to righteousness. (8.50)
So rather than being the product of some highly honorable or mysterious process, doing the right thing might all come down to already being in the habit of doing the right thing, like brushing your teeth or checking your text messages every five minutes.
Quote #3
In the light of the world's attitude toward woman and her duties, the nature of Carrie's mental state deserves consideration. Actions such as hers are measured by an arbitrary scale. Society possesses a conventional standard whereby it judges all things. All men should be good, all women virtuous. (10.1)
It's almost as if the narrator is giving us the rules of the game here before giving us a bunch of characters who proceed to break them.
Quote #4
The dullest specimen of humanity, when drawn by desire toward evil, is recalled by a sense of right, which is proportionate in power and strength to his evil tendency. We must remember that it may not be a knowledge of right, for no knowledge of right is predicated of the animal's instinctive recoil at evil. Men are still led by instinct before they are regulated by knowledge. (27.66)
Even "the dullest specimen of humanity" can do the right thing: three cheers for dull specimens of humanity. This is kind of an interesting idea that dull humans, like animals, instinctively resist evil. But the narrator's patronizing tone leaves a bit of a sour taste in our mouths.
Quote #5
At every first adventure, then, into some untried evil, the mind wavers. The clock of thought ticks out its wish and its denial. (27.67)
The clock is so totally apt an image here for expressing how Hurstwood ponders over whether to take the money from the safe. The clock's ticks are even, measured, and steady, just like the back-and-forth movement of his thoughts in that scene. Neither right nor wrong outweighs the other until the very last moment when the safe accidentally shuts.
Quote #6
For a truth, [Carrie] was rather shocked and frightened by this evidence of human depravity. He would have tricked her without turning an eyelash. She would have been led into a newer and worse situation. And yet she could not keep out the pictures of his looks and manners. Only this one deed seemed strange and miserable. It contrasted sharply with all she felt and knew
Carrie wonders who this Hurstwood guy really is as she grapples here with how incongruous his deceit is with the rest of her knowledge of him. The phrase "shocked and frightened" especially captures how disorienting the experience of finding out you don't know someone as well as you thought you knew them can be.
Quote #7
He could not complicate his home life, because it might affect his relations with his employers. They wanted no scandals. A man, to hold his position, must have a dignified manner, a clean record, a respectable home anchorage. Therefore, he was circumspect in all he did […]. (9.47)
So here's a pretty ironic reason people act morally: to protect their own self-interest. Hurstwood's home life isn't at all that rosy, and the main reason he needs to keep it intact by avoiding scandal (i.e. you wouldn't catch Hurstwood tweeting half-naked pics of himself today) is so he can maintain his economically privileged lifestyle.
Quote #8
[Hurstwood] began to see the nature of that social injustice which sees but one side—often but a single point in a long tragedy. All the newspapers noted but one thing, his taking the money. How and wherefore were but indifferently dealt with. All the complications which led up to it were unknown. (29.110)
Is it wrong for the newspapers to report Hurstwood's crime without mentioning "all the complications" surrounding it?
Quote #9
Not evil, but longing for that which is better, more often directs the steps of the erring. (47.120)
Wow—so much of this novel is about Carrie's longing for what she doesn't have. We've seen how this makes her lonely and unhappy, and here the narrator is telling us straight up that it's indeed the source of many mistakes.