Moral Intention Quotes

You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.

God considers not the action, but the spirit of the action.

We may say simply that in the sight of God we are judged not so much by what we do as by our reasons for doing it.

It is easy to be virtuous in prospective.

When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint - understand what he is trying to do - nine times out of ten he is trying to do right.

What will people remember us for? Are other people’s lives better because we lived? Did we make a difference? Did we use to the fullest the gifts and abilities God gave us? Did we give our best effort, and did we do it for the right reasons?

We call an intention good which is right in itself, but the action is good, not because it contains within it some good, but because it issues from a good intention.

In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.

In fact we say that an intention is good, that is, right in itself, but that an action does not bear any good in itself but proceeds from a good intention. Whence when the same thing is done by the same man at different times, by the diversity of his intention, however, his action is now said to be good, now bad.

Comedy is created when someone is trying very earnestly to do what he feels is the right thing to do at that moment.

Anyone can see that intending and not acting when we can is not really intending, and loving and not doing good when we can is not really loving.

Motives are better than actions. Men drift into crime. Of evil they do more than they contemplate, and of good they contemplate more than they do.

The thirst for education that comes with the change the gospel brings can be a blessing or a curse, depending on our motives.

It is in the disposition and view of the mind, and not in the good which may accidentally and unintentionally result, that virtue consists

I wanted to be good but I wasn't sure if I was prepared

We're not perfect, but we want to do the right thing.

For an act to be moral the intention must be based on compassion, not duty. We do something because we want to do it, because we feel we have to do it, not because we ought to do it. And even if our efforts fail - or we never even get to implement them - we are still moral because our motivation was based on compassion.

These people who can see right through you never quite do you justice, because they never give you credit for the effort you're making to be better than you actually are, which is difficult and well meant and deserving of some little notice.