Marianne Moore Quotes

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.

We tend to think that people are more to blame for their acts than for their omissions.

A man may well be condemned, not for doing something, but for doing nothing.

… whoever brushes aside even a part of the truth, whether through intention or oversight, is doomed to fall. The truth he lacks thrives on negligence, and brings down whatever is built without it.

Don’t blame me for not serving you proper warning.

I do worry about breaking things - things that don't belong to me.

We are not only responsible for what we do but also for what we do not do.

Not responding is a response - we are equally responsible for what we don't do.

There are no innocent bystanders.

When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. When you desire a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.

Is a knife evil? Only if the wielder is evil.

But they who are unconcerned about the consequences of their actions are not therefore unconcerned about their actions.

We are not responsible for what we do; we are ignorant of our acts until we accomplish them.

We do not suffer by accident.

Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom.

My Dear Son... remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.

Every duty we omit obscures some truth we should have known.

I'd rather be sorry for something I had done than for something I didn't do.

Shocking writing is like murder: the questions the jury must decide are the questions of motive and intent.

It is not love that matters, Mistress Boy, it is what you choose to do with it. What’d you choose to do with yours?

We can now destroy or we can cherish-the choice is ours.

What if my words Were meant for deeds.

When typhus or cholera breaks out, they tell us that Nobody is to blame. That terrible Nobody! How much he has to answer for. More mischief is done by Nobody than by all the world besides.

The consequences of every act are included in the act itself.