Amy Tan Quotes

They are focused on whether they can do something. They never think whether they should do something.

The consequences of our actions take hold of us, quite indifferent to our claim that meanwhile we have 'improved.

The right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

It is interesting to see how humans would act if they knew there were never any consequences for their actions because the next day they could wake up and just redo it.

If everyone is to be made responsible for everything they do, you must extend responsibility beyond the level of conscious intention.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

I wanted to play around with the format, really tear it to pieces and shake it up. For example, if Mitch saves someone from drowning, and that person then goes out and releases a virus that kills a million people. Imagine the moral implications of that.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

Only when the voice of duty is silent, or when it has already spoken, may we allowably think of the consequences of a particular action.

If you do something, expect consequences.

Our actions are the ground we walk on.

Every action has a consequence, so always try to be good.

Once you put human life in human hands, you have started on a slippery slope that knows no boundaries.

I don't think anyone sets out to do something bad, it's just that it's very difficult.

What is done cannot be effaced. We have to act upon a moral field prepared for us ...

Good laws are produced by bad actions.

I think words have consequences, and I think actions have consequences.

If you had special powers, it wouldn't be all fun and games. There would be regrets for things you've done.

Should I be the one to play God? We're both about the same age, but we grew up in different neighborhoods.

Nothing in Chomsky's account acknowledges the difference between intending to kill a child, because of the effect you hope to produce on its parents (we call this “terrorism”), and inadvertently killing a child in an attempt to capture or kill an avowed child murderer (we call this “collateral damage”). In both cases a child has died, and in both cases it is a tragedy. But the ethical status of the perpetrators, be they individuals or states, could not be more distinct For Chomsky, intentions do not seem to matter. Body count is all.

...guilt leads to righteous action, but rarely is it the right action.

Wouldst thou shut up the avenues of ill, Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill.

Knowledge is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil.

If I could, Sister James, I would certainly choose to live in innocence. But innocence can only be wisdom in a world without evil. Situations arise and we are confronted with wrongdoing and the need to act.

There's less of a connection for a lot of people between the technical decisions we make and the ethical ramifications we are responsible for.