Refusal to Act Quotes

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.

It's a long story. Want a refill?" "No, let's start the steak. Where's the button?" "Right here." "Well, push it." "Me? You offered to cook." "Ben Caxton, I will lie here and starve before I will get up to push a button six inches from your finger" "As you wish." He pressed the button. "But don't forget who cooked dinner.

While silence can in some circumstances bespeak noble self-control, it can also signify suppression, oblivion or cowardice.

Sometimes inaction is worse than action.

You kept quiet... When these victims wanted your help to survive, you kept quiet.

Benjamin Netanyahu seems to avoid any initiative.

Passivity is the same as defending injustice.

When I came to the last line of 'Car Crash While Hitchhiking,' I read it as a pitiless statement of indifference: a refusal to warn the family of their impending collision, a refusal to help when miraculously spared, a refusal to act on the empathy hiding behind the story's language.

The critic is a man who prefers the indolence of opinion to the trials of action.

Washington has been ignoring this issue for too long.