If the truth shall kill them, let them die.
A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified.
Lev Davidovich Bronstein
Intelligence work has one moral law—it is justified by results.
John Moore Cornwell
The attempt to remove evil from the world by killing a thousand evil - doers, only adds to the evil in the world.
Truly, to tell lies is not honorable; But when the truth entails tremendous ruin, To speak dishonorably is pardonable.
You are not now to think what's best to do, As in beginnings, but what must be done, Being thus enter'd; and slip no advantage That may secure you. Let them call it mischief; When it is past, and prosper'd , 'twill be virtue.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Anything can become excusable when seen from the standpoint of the result
Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain.
For the lesser evil is reckoned a good in comparison with the greater evil, since the lesser evil is rather to be chosen than the greater. .
If the end does not justify the means, what does?
Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.
The ends justifies the means.
I think in general the ends do not justify the means.
Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.
There will be good and bad, right and wrong. Your reaction of choice, good or bad, has consequences that affect you and those around you.
My principle is to do whatever is right, and leave consequences to him who has the disposal of them.
In my life as a soldier and citizen, I have seen time and time again that inaction has dire consequences.
Crime when it succeeds is called virtue.
The end never justifies the means because there is no end; there are only means.
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.
But the nature of the universe is such that ends can never justify means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.
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.
Does the end justify the means? That is possible. But what will justify the end? To that question, which historical thought leaves pending, rebellion replies: the means.
The end must justify the means.
