Bystander Effect Quotes

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.

That was the tragedy. Not that one man had the courage to be evil. But that millions had not the courage to be good.

For evil to take place, the acts of a few people are not sufficient; the great majority also has to remain indifferent.

I often feel that worse than the most fiendish Nazis were those Germans who went along with the persecution of the Jews not because they really disliked them but because it was the thing.

The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all.

To see evil and not call it evil is evil.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

There are no innocent bystanders.

America has this fascination with glorifying the villain and not talking about the trials and tribulations. We tell the story of the successful villain a lot of times, but we don't tell the story of the people who don't come out so successful, and we don't tell the story of all the bystanders of that choice.

I have no love for those who consider themselves 'good people' but stand idly by as the world crumbles around them. It's not enough to personally not do damage. If you're present as someone else destroys what's around you and you do nothing, you helped them.

In the military, there's a sense of camaraderie that can sometimes make people bystanders. There were a lot of really good men that I served with, but many of them watched me get discriminated against while looking the other way.

That which is everybody's business is nobody's business.

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.

But that would leave Paxton to fend for herself, and the last thing any woman wanted in this kind of situation was to look around and see all the people who could help her doing nothing.

It is not open to the cool bystander . . . to set himself up as an impartial judge of events which would never have occurred had he outstretched a helping hand in time.

One victim lives in tragedy, another victim stops to stare, and still another walks on by pretending not to see

I've seen things, and that's almost the same as doing them.

We need to turn bystanders and enablers into allies. Ninety-eight percent of United States corporations right now have sexual harassment training policies. Seventy percent have prevention programs. But still, overwhelmingly, bystanders and witnesses don't come forward. In 2016, the Harvard Business Review called it the "bystander effect." And yet -- remember 9/11. Millions of times we've heard, "If you see something, say something." Imagine how impactful that would be if we carried that through to bystanders in the workplace regarding sexual harassment -- to recognize and interrupt these incidences; to confront the perpetrators to their face; to help and protect the victims. This is my shout-out to men: we need you in this fight. And to women, too -- enablers to allies.

All of us are subject to being passive to the social ills around us. It's a struggle not to become, by staying silent, an accomplice.

I make little distinction between those who commit evil and those who stand by and do nothing.

So many people witness atrocities and can't take their eyes away from them, but that doesn't mean they're good.

One never dives into the water to save a drowning man more eagerly than when there are others present who dare not take the risk.

Are you as much of a criminal if you don't act when there's a crime taking place in front of you as you are one of the participants? That was something that I was thinking about a lot because there are many moments in 'Less Than Zero' where horrific things happen and Clay could do something about them, but his passivity stops him.

When I look back on it, I think, "Why didn't you stop the cruelty earlier?" To stand back was contrary to my upbringing and nature. When I stood back as a noninterfering experimental scientist, I was, in a sense, as drawn into the power of the situation as any prisoners and guards.