#endsandmeans — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #endsandmeans, aggregated by home.social.
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I think one must engage in politics — using the word in a wide sense — and that one must have preferences: that is, one must recognise that some causes are objectively better than others, even if they are advanced by equally bad means. As for the nationalistic loves and hatreds that I have spoken of, they are part of the make-up of most of us, whether we like it or not. Whether it is possible to get rid of them I do not know, but I do believe that it is possible to struggle against them, and that this is essentially a moral effort. It is a question first of all of discovering what one really is, what one’s own feelings really are, and then of making allowance for the inevitable bias.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/46470/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #bias #cause #endsandmeans #ideology #jingoism #moralcharacter #moralduty #nationalism #objectivity #politicalopinion #politics #prejudice #selfawareness #selfexamination #selfimprovement #subjectivity
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I think one must engage in politics — using the word in a wide sense — and that one must have preferences: that is, one must recognise that some causes are objectively better than others, even if they are advanced by equally bad means. As for the nationalistic loves and hatreds that I have spoken of, they are part of the make-up of most of us, whether we like it or not. Whether it is possible to get rid of them I do not know, but I do believe that it is possible to struggle against them, and that this is essentially a moral effort. It is a question first of all of discovering what one really is, what one’s own feelings really are, and then of making allowance for the inevitable bias.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/46470/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #bias #cause #endsandmeans #ideology #jingoism #moralcharacter #moralduty #nationalism #objectivity #politicalopinion #politics #prejudice #selfawareness #selfexamination #selfimprovement #subjectivity
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I think one must engage in politics — using the word in a wide sense — and that one must have preferences: that is, one must recognise that some causes are objectively better than others, even if they are advanced by equally bad means. As for the nationalistic loves and hatreds that I have spoken of, they are part of the make-up of most of us, whether we like it or not. Whether it is possible to get rid of them I do not know, but I do believe that it is possible to struggle against them, and that this is essentially a moral effort. It is a question first of all of discovering what one really is, what one’s own feelings really are, and then of making allowance for the inevitable bias.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/46470/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #bias #cause #endsandmeans #ideology #jingoism #moralcharacter #moralduty #nationalism #objectivity #politicalopinion #politics #prejudice #selfawareness #selfexamination #selfimprovement #subjectivity
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I think one must engage in politics — using the word in a wide sense — and that one must have preferences: that is, one must recognise that some causes are objectively better than others, even if they are advanced by equally bad means. As for the nationalistic loves and hatreds that I have spoken of, they are part of the make-up of most of us, whether we like it or not. Whether it is possible to get rid of them I do not know, but I do believe that it is possible to struggle against them, and that this is essentially a moral effort. It is a question first of all of discovering what one really is, what one’s own feelings really are, and then of making allowance for the inevitable bias.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/46470/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #bias #cause #endsandmeans #ideology #jingoism #moralcharacter #moralduty #nationalism #objectivity #politicalopinion #politics #prejudice #selfawareness #selfexamination #selfimprovement #subjectivity
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I think one must engage in politics — using the word in a wide sense — and that one must have preferences: that is, one must recognise that some causes are objectively better than others, even if they are advanced by equally bad means. As for the nationalistic loves and hatreds that I have spoken of, they are part of the make-up of most of us, whether we like it or not. Whether it is possible to get rid of them I do not know, but I do believe that it is possible to struggle against them, and that this is essentially a moral effort. It is a question first of all of discovering what one really is, what one’s own feelings really are, and then of making allowance for the inevitable bias.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/46470/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #bias #cause #endsandmeans #ideology #jingoism #moralcharacter #moralduty #nationalism #objectivity #politicalopinion #politics #prejudice #selfawareness #selfexamination #selfimprovement #subjectivity
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Me, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build with or you can use a hammer to destroy with. Whether government is good or bad depends on what you use it for and how well you use it. On the whole, it’s a poor idea to put people in charge of government who don’t believe in using it.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1992-03-01), “Good morning, Fort Worth! Glad to be here,” Fort Worth Star-TelegramMore about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/16887/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #administration #construction #destruction #endsandmeans #government #hammer #misgovernment #moralagent #morality #purpose #smallgovernment #tool #utilization
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History is thought of largely in nationalist terms, and such things as the Inquisition, the tortures of the Star Chamber, the exploits of the English buccaneers (Sir Francis Drake, for instance, who was given to sinking Spanish prisoners alive), the Reign of Terror, the heroes of the Mutiny blowing hundreds of Indians from the guns, or Cromwell’s soldiers slashing Irishwomen’s faces with razors, become morally neutral or even meritorious when it is felt that they were done in the “right” cause. If one looks back over the past quarter of a century, one finds that there was hardly a single year when atrocity stories were not being reported from some part of the world; and yet in not one single case were these atrocities — in Spain, Russia, China, Hungary, Mexico, Amritsar, Smyrna — believed in and disapproved of by the English intelligentsia as a whole. Whether such deeds were reprehensible, or even whether they happened, was always decided according to political predilection.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/46140/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #atrocity #cause #condemnation #endsandmeans #history #justification #nationalism #ourside #partisanship #politics #takingsides #tribalism #truthiness #usvsthem #warcrime
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When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 1, ch. 1, § 5 (1951)More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/10332/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #change #changeordie #danger #dreams #endsandmeans #hopes #lyinglow #reignofterror #revolution #terror #threat #violence #wrath
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When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 1, ch. 1, § 5 (1951)More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/10332/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #change #changeordie #danger #dreams #endsandmeans #hopes #lyinglow #reignofterror #revolution #terror #threat #violence #wrath
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When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 1, ch. 1, § 5 (1951)More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/10332/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #change #changeordie #danger #dreams #endsandmeans #hopes #lyinglow #reignofterror #revolution #terror #threat #violence #wrath
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When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 1, ch. 1, § 5 (1951)More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/10332/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #change #changeordie #danger #dreams #endsandmeans #hopes #lyinglow #reignofterror #revolution #terror #threat #violence #wrath
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The way one solves problems obviously influences not only the outcome, but the kinds of problems one faces after the immediate problem is settled.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (2002-11-19), “Blast from the Past,” Creators Syndicate columnMore about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/83403/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #consequence #endsandmeans #knockoneffect #meansandends #problem #problemsolving
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A quotation from Hilaire Belloc
He served his God so faithfully and well,
That now he sees him face to face, in hell.Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) Franco-British writer, historian [Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc]
Poem (1923), “Epigram 45: On a Puritan,” Sonnets and Verse (1923 ed.)More about this quote: wist.info/belloc-hilaire/83345…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hilairebelloc #damnation #devil #endsandmeans #God #hell #Puritan #zealot
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I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. — Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1776-07-03, p.m.) to Abigail AdamsMore info about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/5205/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #America #DeclarationofIndependence #endsandmeans #prophecy #struggle
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A quotation from La Rochefoucauld
The glory of great men must always be measured against the means they have used to acquire it.
[La gloire des grands hommes se doit toujours mesurer aux moyens dont ils se sont servis pour l’acquérir.]François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶157 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959)]Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #endsandmeans #fame #glory #greatness #honor #means #meansandends
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Have you ever thought about exerting extreme #violence for good ends?
I know I did, for a hot second, at some point. I'm no super-powered human though, and #cowardliness may be a bigger obstacle than moral conundrum in my case (I'm not a fan of dying or even *just* getting permanently injured, physically or otherwise).https://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-6/page-122-2/
#StrongFemalProtagonist #webcomic #philosophy #goodEnds #endsAndMeans #means #ByAnyMeansNecessary
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A quotation from John Maynard Keynes
[Capitalism is] the astonishing belief that the nastiest motives of the nastiest men somehow or other work for the best results in the best of all possible worlds.
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
(Attributed)Vague sourcing, extensive notes: wist.info/keynes-john-maynard/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #keynes #avarice #benefits #capitalism #commongood #commonwealth #endsandmeans #evil #greed #idealism #meme #motivation #nastiness #optimum #results #selfinterest #wealth #wickedness
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A quotation from Hannah Arendt
Still, the danger of the practice of violence, even if it moves consciously within a non-extremist framework of short-term goals, will always be that the means overwhelm the end. If goals are not achieved rapidly, the result will not merely be defeat but the introduction of the practice of violence into the whole body politic. Action is irreversible, and a return to the status quo in case of defeat is always unlikely. The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of BooksSourcing, notes: wist.info/arendt-hannah/47129/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #arendt #hannaharendt #control #endsandmeans #escalation #statusquo #violence
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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
Nevertheless, the fact remains that exactly as true patriots should be especially jealous of any appeal to what is base under the guise of patriotism, so men who strive for honesty, and for the cleansing of what is corrupt in the dark places of our politics, should emphatically disassociate themselves from the men whose antics throw discredit upon the reforms they profess to advocate.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/1…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #cause #discrediting #allies #association #baseness #corruption #endsandmeans #extremism #extremists #jingoism #nationalism #patriotism #reform #reformers #unworthiness
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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
Nevertheless, the fact remains that exactly as true patriots should be especially jealous of any appeal to what is base under the guise of patriotism, so men who strive for honesty, and for the cleansing of what is corrupt in the dark places of our politics, should emphatically disassociate themselves from the men whose antics throw discredit upon the reforms they profess to advocate.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/1…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #cause #discrediting #allies #association #baseness #corruption #endsandmeans #extremism #extremists #jingoism #nationalism #patriotism #reform #reformers #unworthiness
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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
Nevertheless, the fact remains that exactly as true patriots should be especially jealous of any appeal to what is base under the guise of patriotism, so men who strive for honesty, and for the cleansing of what is corrupt in the dark places of our politics, should emphatically disassociate themselves from the men whose antics throw discredit upon the reforms they profess to advocate.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/1…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #cause #discrediting #allies #association #baseness #corruption #endsandmeans #extremism #extremists #jingoism #nationalism #patriotism #reform #reformers #unworthiness
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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
Nevertheless, the fact remains that exactly as true patriots should be especially jealous of any appeal to what is base under the guise of patriotism, so men who strive for honesty, and for the cleansing of what is corrupt in the dark places of our politics, should emphatically disassociate themselves from the men whose antics throw discredit upon the reforms they profess to advocate.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/1…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #cause #discrediting #allies #association #baseness #corruption #endsandmeans #extremism #extremists #jingoism #nationalism #patriotism #reform #reformers #unworthiness
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A quotation from Orwell, George:
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It is not merely that “power corrupts”; so also do the ways of attaining power.
»Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/orwell-george/19052/