Full Idea
It would be a great improvement if, instead of 'morally wrong', one always named a genus such as 'untruthful', 'unchaste', or 'unjust'.
Gist of Idea
It would be better to point to failings of character, than to moral wrongness of actions
Source
G.E.M. Anscombe (Modern Moral Philosophy [1958], p.183)
Book Reference
'The Is/Ought Question', ed/tr. Hudson,W.H. [Macmillan 1969], p.183
A Reaction
People are indeed much more struck by the suggestion that they have a weakness of character, rather than that they have just done something wrong. This is Anscombe's first great appeal for a return to virtue as the basis of ethics.