The End Does Not Justify The Means Quotes & Sayings

The end must justify the means. — Matthew Prior

When we go to war, our politicians will be guided by our popular will. And if we believe that torture 'got' bin Laden, then we will be more prone to accept the view that a good 'end' can justify brutal 'means.' — Alex Gibney

Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other. — Lord Acton

The end never justifies the means because there is no end; there are only means. — Penn Jillette

The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced. — Aldous Huxley

Does the end justify the means? Or should it be, Do the ends justify the mean; do the extremes justify moderation? — Daniel N. Robinson

The end did not justify the means, but justifiable means that brought about a fair and necessary conclusion were not to be dismissed. — Robert Ludlum

The end doesn't justify anything, because all we ever live with is the means. — Nick Harkaway

The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end. — Leon Trotsky

The end does not justify the means. If we try to be someone we are not in order to achieve a result, then the result cannot help but be something other than what we intended. — Marianne Williamson

The end justifies the means. Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to get the right result. — Sebastian Fitzek

But the nature of the universe is such that the ends never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end. — Aldous Huxley

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. — Albert Camus

Communism and "free-market" capitalism both are modern versions of oligarchy. In their propaganda, both justify violent means by good ends, which always are put beyond reach by the violence of the means. The trick is to define the end vaguely-"the greatest good of the greatest number" or "the benefit of the many"- and keep it at a distance. — Wendell Berry

The end doesn't justify the means. — Ovid

The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others. — Ayn Rand

I understand that the end does not justify the means. And this should be a lasting value for democracy. — Park Geun-hye

If the end does not justify the means - what can? — Edward Abbey

The goal of an end to poverty is so noble that governments have successfully used the end to justify the means. The means have been high taxation of the productive members of society and arrays of bureaucracies that increasingly regulate the lives of us all. 1 — Charles Murray

Sometimes, for the sake of the larger good, one has to do things that may not appear right at the time. Perhaps, a laudable end can justify some questionable means. — Amish Tripathi

If the end doesn't justify the means, what does? (Robert Moses) — Robert A. Caro

The end always doesn't justify the means you used to reach there. — Auliq Ice

It's a very old axiom, but do you believe the end can justify the means? When there's no choice left? — James Dashner

You will say that it is vulgar and contemptible to drag all this into public after all the tears and transports which I have myself confessed. But why is it contemptible? Can you imagine that I am ashamed of it all, and that it was stupider than anything in your life, gentlemen? And I can assure you that some of these fancies were by no means badly composed . . . . It did not all happen on the shores of Lake Como. And yet you are right - it really is vulgar and contemptible. And most contemptible of all it is that now I am attempting to justify myself to you. And even more contemptible than that is my making this remark now. But that's enough, or there will be no end to it; each step will be more contemptible than the last . . . — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

To do a great right, you may do a little wrong; and you may take any means which the end to be attained will justify. — Charles Dickens

[T]he end cannot justify the means; but if there are no other means, and the end is necessary... — James Blish

But don't they say that all is fair in love and war? I heard that somewhere."
"'They?' Who are 'they?'"
"I don't know. Just people."
"That's what the victorious claim, not the defeated; the powerful, not the powerless. 'All is fair.' 'The end justifies the means.' Is that what you believe? — John Connolly