Margaret Mead Quotes

Do not let us mistake necessary evils for good.

As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.

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

To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less.

I'm a Utilitarian, so I don't see the rule against lying as absolute; it's always subject to some overriding utility which may prevent its exercise.

If the end does not justify the means, what does?

If the ends don't justify the means, what does?

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

So far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil.

I don't see much use in general slogans. Sometimes it is worth resisting evil with lesser evil, very commonly in fact.

To believe in 'the greater good' is to operate, necessarily, in a certain ethical suspension.

When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.

What's distinctively shocking about Machiavelli is that he didn't care. He believed not only that politicians must do evil in the name of the public good, but also that they shouldn't worry about it. He was unconcerned, in other words, with what modern thinkers call 'the problem of dirty hands.'

People will justify whatever for a good cause.

Nature has no principles. She makes no distinction between good and evil.

I have an interest in understanding evil. Who is the bad guy - the vampire who kills people and sucks their blood, or the survivalists who kill people to save their own lives? Is evil merely a creation of people? Or is there an evil nature? Or is it in the eye of the beholder? I really like these questions.

Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.

To be a utilitarian means that you judge actions as right or wrong in accordance with whether they have good consequences. So you try to do what will have the best consequences for all of those affected.

If the end does not justify the means - what can?

Even good people are obliged to deceive.

[In a political contest] If you are faced with the lesser of two evils, you have the evil of two lesser.

The more...we consider man to be free, the less we can say, that he can neglect to use reason, or choose evil in preference to good

We ought to see clearly that the end does justify the means

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.

There are no moral victories.