Wolfgang Hildesheimer Quotes

It's hard to convince people that you're killing them for their own good.

There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right.

Do not do an immoral thing for moral reasons.

Good men must not obey the laws too well.

Documentary makers use other people's lives as their raw material, and that is morally indefensible.

Sometimes you have to do what’s wrong in order to do what’s right.

The dreamers always seem to think their dream is worth the price that other people will pay. They also delude themselves that they will control whatever evil they use to try to bring about their dream.

There's always got to be room for what you might call benign corruption. Nobody blames a man who steals food to feed his starving children, but on the other hand, somebody who picks up a badge and takes an oath to serve and protect; we do expect a certain level of essential honesty.

It was wrong. But it was worth it.

Here in St. Cloud’s,” Dr. Larch wrote, “ I have been given the choice of playing God or leaving practically everything up to chance. It is my experience that practically everything is left up to chance much of the time; men who believe in good and evil, and who believe that good should win, should watch for those moments when it is possible to play God – we should seize those moments. There won’t be may

We do the best we can," she said softly, looking inward. "And punish ourselves for it. I've tried to make my choices with the idea that I've made those choices for the greatest good. Sometimes someone suffers in the process, but I made the decision for the right reason. That should count for something, shouldn't it?

What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good.

Revolting means for good ends make the ends of themselves revolting.

Scheme not to make what's Another's your own; Be not a Dog for the sake of a Bone.

I have always derived indescribable pleasure from leading a decent woman to the edge of sin and leaving her there to live between the temptation and the fear of that sin.

It is evil to justify killing (unborn babies) by the happy outcome of eternity for the one killed. This same justification could be used to justify killing one-year olds, or any heaven-bound believer for that matter. The Bible asks the question: "Shall we sin that grace may abound?" (Romans 6:1) And: "Shall we do evil that good may come?" (Romans 3:8). In both cases the answer is a resounding NO. It is presumption to step into God's place and try to make the assignments to heaven or to hell. Our duty is to obey God, not to play God.

The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.

If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?

The antagonism between life and conscience may be removed in two ways: by a change of life or by a change of conscience.

Conscience and covetousness are never to be reconciled; like fire and water they always destroy each other, according to the predominancy of the element.

Shall I pass by and leave you lying there because of the expedition you led against Greece, or shall I set you up again because of your magnanimity and your virtues in other respects?

It's always fun to play the innocent, no matter what you're doing. If you feel like you're doing the right thing, you can get away with a lot comedically. I had definitely missed not having a conscience.

He recalls what that first German soldier said to his major: No God-not yours or mine-approves of what you're doing.

It is never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right.

It is with a pious fraud as with a bad action; it begets a calamitous necessity of going on.