There are many things which we can afford to forget which it is yet well to learn.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The context of an action significantly influences its moral character and meaning.
This quote emphasizes the importance of context in evaluating the morality and significance of actions. It suggests that the same act can have different implications depending on the circumstances surrounding it, highlighting the nuanced nature of human behavior and ethical considerations.
Themes
CharacterCircumstancesActionsMoralityEthics
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about ethics in leadership, one could say, 'As Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. stated, the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.'
More from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
All quotes βOn the whole, I am on the side of the unregenerate who affirms the worth of life as an end in itself, as against the saints who deny it.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
If you don't know what you want, you will probably never get it.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
Why should you row a boat race? Why endure the long months of pain in preparation for a fierce half hour that will leave you all but dead? Does anyone ask the question? Is there anyone who would not go through all the costs, and more, for the moment when anguish breaks into triumph or even for the glory of having nobly lost? Is life less than a boat race? If a man will give the blood in his body to win the one, will he spend all the might of his soul to prevail in the other?
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts, but learning how to make facts live.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
Beware how you take away hope from another human being.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
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In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control. Where will I find good and bad? In me, in my choices.
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Only death reveals what a nothing the body of man is.
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The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
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Civilisation is partly about restraining the male of the species from engaging in the violence of the hunter-gatherer period. But it doesn't take an awful lot to unleash it.
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