The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.
Peter AbelardRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A good intention is what makes an action morally right, not the action itself.
This quote by Peter Abelard emphasizes the significance of good intentions behind actions. It suggests that the moral value of an action stems from the purity of the intention that inspires it, rather than the action being inherently good in nature. This highlights the importance of motive in ethical considerations.
Themes
IntentionActionMoralityEthicsGoodnessMotivation
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about ethics in a philosophy class.
More from Peter Abelard
All quotes →By doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.
Peter AbelardRead
And now, my friend, I am going to expose to you all my weaknesses. All men, I believe, are under a necessity of paying tribute at some time or other to Love, and it is vain to strive to avoid it. I was a philosopher, yet this tyrant of the mind triumphed over all my wisdom; his darts were of greater force than all my reasonings, and with a sweet constraint he led me wherever he pleased.
Peter AbelardRead
Are you not moved to tears and bitter compassion, when you behold the only Son of God seized by the most impious, dragged away, mocked, scourged, buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, hung upon the infamous cross between two thieves, finally in such a horrible and execrable manner suffering death, for your salvation and that of the world?
Peter AbelardRead
Our redemption through the suffering of Christ is that deeper love within us which not only frees us from slavery to sin, but also secures for us the true liberty of the children of God, in order that we might do all things out of love rather than out of fear - love for him that has shown us such grace that no greater can be found.
Peter AbelardRead
In doubting we come to inquiry; by inquiry we perceive the truth.
Peter AbelardRead
Similar quotes
If words are not things, or maps are not the actual territory, then, obviously, the only possible link between the objective world and the linguistic world is found in structure, and structure alone.
Alfred KorzybskiRead
Bottles of wine aren't like paintings. At some point you have to consume them. The object in life is to die with no bottles of wine in your cellar. To drink your last bottle of wine and go to sleep that night and not wake up.
Jay McinerneyRead
I can tell you that God is alive because I talked to him this morning.
Billy GrahamRead
It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
It's something you're born with, and you realize that you're trapped in the wrong body. It's not like one day you're like, 'I want to be transgender!'
Jazz JenningsRead
Racism and sexism are not "problems" or "topics." They are ways of defining reality and living our lives that most of us learned along with learning how to tie our shoes and how to drink from a cup.
Paula RothenbergRead