Yvon Chouinard Quotes

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Tolerating evil leads only to more evil. And when good people stand by and do nothing while wickedness reigns, their communities will be consumed.

For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.

For evil to take place, the acts of a few people are not sufficient; the great majority also has to remain indifferent.

You either fight active evil or you accept it. Doing nothing is acceptance. There is no in-between.

We are all guilty of the good we did not do

Evil prevails when good people do nothing.

We commit two wrongs when we fail to right a wrong.

I make little distinction between those who commit evil and those who stand by and do nothing.

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.

Immoral is choosing not to act when you hold in your hands the power to create perfection.

So many people witness atrocities and can't take their eyes away from them, but that doesn't mean they're good.

I have no love for those who consider themselves 'good people' but stand idly by as the world crumbles around them. It's not enough to personally not do damage. If you're present as someone else destroys what's around you and you do nothing, you helped them.

When someone steals a person's clothes, we call him a thief. Should we not also give the same name to the one who could clothe the naked but does not?

Duty is but a pot. It holds whatever is put in it, from the greatest evil to the greatest good.

Whether we consider Nazi Germany or Abu Ghraib prison, there were many people who observed what was happening and said nothing. At Abu Ghraib, one photo shows two soldiers smiling before a pyramid of naked prisoners while a dozen other soldiers stand around watching passively. If you observe such abuses and don't say, "This is wrong! Stop it!" you give tacit approval to continue. You are part of the silent majority that makes evil deeds more acceptable.

To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.

We are each of us responsible for the evil we may have prevented.

To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.

In the cruel and terrible time in which our generation has been condemned to live on this earth, we must never make peace with evil. We must never become indifferent to others or undemanding of ourselves.

Moral obligation is to me so very strong a Stimulant, that in 9 cases out of ten it acts as a Narcotic. The Blow that should rouse, stuns me.

Those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters, for without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves we collude with it through our apathy.