Jimmy Carter Quotes

I think in general the ends do not justify the means.

Any humane and reasonable person must conclude that if the ends, however desireable, are uncertain and the means are horrible and certain, these means must not be employed.

The third rule of ethics of means and ends is that in war the end justifies almost any means.

All moral laws are merely statements that certain kinds of actions will have good effects.

They tend to be pretty abstract ones then, like doing what will have the best consequences; obviously you wouldn't specify what consequences are best, they may be different in some circumstances, so at a lower, more specific level, you may well get differences.

One cannot prescribe to anyone whether he should follow an ethic of absolute ends or an ethic of responsibility.

What would our world be like if we ceased to worry about 'right' and 'wrong,' or 'good' and 'evil,' and simply acted so as to maximize well-being, our own and that of others? Would we lose anything important?

There are times when the end justifies the means. But when you build an argument based on a whole series of such times, you may find that you've constructed an entire philosophy of evil." --Luke Skywalker

The doing evil to avoid an evil cannot be good.

The end justifies the means only when the means used are such as actually bring about the desired and desirable end.

One’s concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s personal interest in the issue.

I'm a very good decision maker because I have core set of principles and so I can make decisions. Decisions can be very hard and you have to wrestle with them, but I'm able to get all the data on the table and figure out what would be the best decision because decisions mean ill for some people and mean positives for others.

Too great a preoccupation with motives (especially one's own motive) is liable to lead to too little concern for consequences.

The right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

The end never justifies the means because there is no end; there are only means.

I would like us to think about it more explicitly, and not take our intuitions as the given of ethics, but rather to reflect on it, and be more open about the fact that something is an ethical issues and think what we ought to do about it.

A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified.

One's concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one's personal interest in the issue ... Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.

A moral choice in its basic terms appears to be a choice that favors survival: a choice made in favor of life.

To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as morals.

The balancing of present wants against the future is really the central problem of ethics.

I'll do what I can to promote the greater good. If you can harm one person to save 1,000, I'm gonna do it every f**king time.

The content of scientific theory itself offers no moral foundation for the personal conduct of life.

The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others.

It would be most right, and most wise, and, therefore must involve least suffering.