INTENTION QUOTES II

quotations about intentions

When our intentions are good we should not deprive ourselves of the means to put them into practice; it should be our duty not only to think of the means and the manner of their accomplishment, but also of our resolve to carry them to a practical and beneficial result.

JAMES ELLIS

attributed, Day's Collacon


For there's nothing we read of in torture's inventions,
Like a well-meaning dunce, with the best of intentions.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

A Fable for Critics

Tags: James Russell Lowell


We cannot penetrate into a fellow-man's brain and read his innermost thoughts; but we can get a clue to these intentions. It is to be presumed that no sane man does an act without a motive, and that what he does he does intentionally; so that from the character of his acts we may form some judgment of the nature of his intentions.

ALBERT GIBSON & ROBERT MCLEAN

Law Notes


If I know that it is only by this process that the intended operation can be performed, then to say that if I fully will the operation, I also will the action required for it, is an analytical proposition.

IMMANUEL KANT

Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals

Tags: Immanuel Kant


I've left behind so many unfinished quilts in my life, beautiful pieces of dreams and intentions never fully assembled.

K. MARTIN BECKNER

A Million Doorways


A good intention clothes itself with sudden power.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Essays

Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson


Intentions are a lot like seeds. You shove them into the ground, and every once in awhile, you water them. Largely, the seed does most of the work on its own. If, on one hand, you were digging the seed up several times a day to see what progress was being made, the seed would not take purchase in the soil. On the other hand, if you completely ignored it, giving no water or nourishment to the soil, the seed might not thrive.

MARY ANNE RADMACHER

365 Bold interview, Mar. 20, 2013

Tags: Mary Anne Radmacher


It is an unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions, at some laudable end.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Spectator: In Eight Volumes, Volume 3

Tags: Joseph Addison


For we may be led into very grave error as to a man's intentions if we affix a meaning to a sign which has not been addressed to us, or which has even been used involuntarily.

HOWARD WARBURTON ELPHINSTONE

"On the Interpretation of Formal Documents", Papers Read Before the Juridical Society


Intentions are nice, but ultimately intentions don't really matter because they only exist inside you.

KELLY WILLIAMS BROWN

Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps


A man's intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

letter to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Dec. 1756

Tags: George Washington


The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world, is in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The course of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothing to fear from the world, and is sure of the approbation and support of Heaven.

WILLIAM WIRT

address delivered before the Peithessophian and Philoclean Societies of Rutgers College, July 20, 1830


He knows he has good intentions, and he feels safe, and this very feeling of safety allows him to be quiet, and his good intentions are never performed, because he was so sure they would be.

F. D.

"Good Intentions", The Home Monthly, 1862


Veracity does not consist in saying, but in the intention of communicating truth.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Biographia Literaria

Tags: Samuel Taylor Coleridge


It is the intention that always constitutes the guilt.

J. BARTLETT

attributed, Day's Collacon


It is not for human judgment to dive into the heart of man, to know whether his intentions are good or evil.

LORD KENYON

Case of Lambert and Others


God accepts not good deeds when the intention is bad.

ALTHAHIYA

attributed, Day's Collacon


A good intention will no more make a truth, than a fair mark will make a good shot.

WILLIAM SPURSTOWE

The Wells of Salvation Opened


A man that is conscious of having honest intentions, is satisfied with the fruits of inward comfort and outward approbation.

LYMAN MAGOON

attributed, Day's Collacon


A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.

SENECA

Moral Essays

Tags: Seneca quotes