William James Quotes

Life is short and if you're looking for extension, you had best do well. 'Cause there's good deeds and then there's good intentions. They are as far apart as Heaven and Hell.

It has been more wittily than charitably said that hell is paved with good intentions; they have their place in heaven also.

Yes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but everyone forgets the second half of that quote: the road to heaven is paved with good actions.

Hell is paved with good intentions, not with bad ones. All men mean well.

Those who meant well behaved in the same way as those who meant badly.

The end doesn't justify anything, because all we ever live with is the means.

The light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the deed alone.

Intentions count in your actions.

Really to sin you have to be serious about it.

I don't believe that if you do good, good things will happen. Everything is completely accidental and random. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But at least if you try to do good things, then you're spending your time doing something worthwhile.

Actions will be judged according to intentions.

The history of all the world tells us that immoral means will ever intercept good ends.

Good intentions are invariably ungrammatical.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.

If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains. If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains.

Evil comes at leisure like the disease. Good comes in a hurry like the doctor.

Everything you do is a seed that you sow. Seed bad, harvest bad. Seed good, harvest good. And the list goes on and on.

You can't be right by doing wrong; you can't be wrong by doing right.

We can choose the way of compassion, the way of forgiveness, the way of generosity. Or we can choose other paths and those have very real consequences in the world. This is absolutely crucial.

Intention, good or bad, is not enough.

Why Christians do what they do is just as important as what they do. Bad motives ruin good acts.

Too great a preoccupation with motives (especially one's own motive) is liable to lead to too little concern for consequences.

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