Alija Izetbegovic Quotes

There is such a thing as doing good that evil may come.

I don't think anyone sets out to do something bad, it's just that it's very difficult.

There are people who do what they believe is right, but as they say, 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'

The greatest thing that science teaches you is the law of unintended consequences.

Half of the results of a good intentions are evil; half the results of an evil intention are good.

If only we could see in advance all the harm that can come from the good we think we are doing.

History is a better guide than good intentions.

Human beings do things for a reason, even if sometimes it's the wrong reason.

Every character has their reasons - even the characters who do dumb things.

People don't necessarily do evil deeds because they want to; people happen to do something with horrible consequences even if they meant to be kind.

The most decisive actions of life are most often unconsidered actions.

And that's what I liked about it, because they are, in the beginning, your little beautiful stock figures, who then make a decision to preserve their futures, but the decision they make isn't completely right, and it destroys their futures.

Good intentions rarely make good policy.

Actions can have unintended adverse consequences.

We must ensure that decisions we make today do not come back to haunt us tomorrow.

We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they responded to the demands of their time and how they solved their problems. We can learn by analogy, not by example, for our circumstances will always be different than theirs were. The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. They foreclose the possibility of making other choices and thus they determine future events.

Benevolent desires, after passing a certain point, can not undertake their own fulfillment without incurring the risk of evils beyond those sought to be remedied.

You can't have intentions without consequences. The question is, who pays for the consequences? Saving fish from drowning. Same thing. Who’s saved? Who’s not?

He who picks up one end of a stick picks up the other. He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determine the end.

Bad decisions made with good intentions, are still bad decisions.

parenting is an exercise in unintended consequences.

Sometimes people fail to see that individual decisions have universal consequences.

The tragic evils of our life are so commonly unintentional. We did not start out for that poor, cheap goal. That aim was not in our minds at all....Look to the road you are walking on. He who picks up one end of [a] stick picks up the other.He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to.

Intentions don't matter. It's the end result we're all judged by. Evil in the name of good is still evil. And when you dance with the devil, you seldom get to pick the tune.

Everything you do has some effect, some impact.