Quotes about harm
page 7

Parker Palmer photo
Howard S. Becker photo
Richard Cobden photo

“I believe that the harm which Mill has done to the world by the passage in his book on Political Economy in which he favours the principle of Protection in young communities, has outweighed all the good which may have been caused by his other writings.”

Richard Cobden (1804–1865) English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman

Said to Sir Louis Mallet by Cobden on his death bed within two days before his death, quoted in Richard Gowing, Richard Cobden (London: Cassell, 1890), p. 130.
1860s

Aldo Capitini photo
Joni Madraiwiwi photo
José Martí photo

“Freedoms, like privileges, prevail or are imperiled together You cannot harm or strive to achieve one without harming or furthering all.”

José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

Jane Goodall photo

“But if the same tests, the same foods are examined by an independent scientist, then it turns out that in almost every case there are quite serious harms done to the rats, the mice or the other poor unfortunate animals, particularly internal organs like liver and kidneys and things of that sort.”

Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist

Jane Goodall Godall Says Animals Suffer From Genetically Modified Foods http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goodall-says-animals-suffer-from-genetically-modified-foods-2015-04-28?siteid=yhoof2 (2015-04-28)

Benjamin Graham photo
Gottfried Helnwein photo
Anton Chekhov photo

“I myself smoke, but my wife asked me to speak today on the harmfulness of tobacco, so what can I do? If it’s tobacco, then let it be tobacco.”

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian dramatist, author and physician

On the Harmfulness of Tobacco (1886)

Lucille Ball photo
Nicolae Ceaușescu photo
Hillary Clinton photo
Adyashanti photo
Georg Brandes photo
Stanley Baldwin photo
Anacreon photo

“Nature gave horns to the bull,
Hoofs gave she to the horse.
To the lion cavernous jaws,
And swiftness to the hare.
The fish taught she to swim,
The bird to cleave the air;
To man she reason gave;
Not yet was woman dowered.
What, then, to woman gave she?
The priceless gift of beauty.
Stronger than any buckler,
Than any spear more piercing.
Who hath the gift of beauty.
Nor fire nor steel shall harm her.”

Anacreon (-570–-485 BC) Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns

Odes, XXIV.
Variant: The bull by nature hath his horns, The horse his hoofs, to daunt their foes; The light-foot hare the hunter scorns; The lion's teeth his strength disclose.The fish, by swimming, 'scapes the weel; The bird, by flight, the fowler's net; With wisdom man is arm'd as steel; Poor women none of these can get. What have they then?—fair Beauty's grace, A two-edged sword, a trusty shield; No force resists a lovely face, Both fire and sword to Beauty yield.

Shimon Peres photo
Gabrielle Roy photo
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn photo
Otto Pfleiderer photo
Henryk Sienkiewicz photo
Muhammad photo

“There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.”

Muhammad (570–632) Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam

Abu Saíd Saád bin Malik bin Sinan Al-Khudri in The Sunnah and the Science of Hadith by Imam Yahia bin Sharaful-Deen An-Nawawi http://www.wisdom.edu.ph/Sunnah/3FortyHadith.html Hadith 32
Shi'ite Hadith

Gustave Flaubert photo

“You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

14 June 1853
Correspondence, Letters to Madame Louise Colet

Georges Laraque photo
Kurt Schuschnigg photo
William Alexander photo
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo

“Salisbury said two things which are more decided than any former utterances of his: that Russia at Constantinople would do us no harm: and that we ought to seize Egypt.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Salisbury to the Cabinet (16 June 1877), from John Vincent (ed.), The Diaries of Edward Henry Stanley, Fifteenth Earl of Derby (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1994), p. 410
1870s

Max Scheler photo

“But this instinctive falsification of the world view is only of limited effectiveness. Again and again the ressentiment man encounters happiness, power, beauty, wit, goodness, and other phenomena of positive life. They exist and impose themselves, however much he may shake his fist against them and try to explain them away. He cannot escape the tormenting conflict between desire and impotence. Averting his eyes is sometimes impossible and in the long run ineffective. When such a quality irresistibly forces itself upon his attention, the very sight suffices to produce an impulse of hatred against its bearer, who has never harmed or insulted him. Dwarfs and cripples, who already feel humiliated by the outward appearance of the others, often show this peculiar hatred—this hyena-like and ever-ready ferocity. Precisely because this kind of hostility is not caused by the “enemy's” actions and behavior, it is deeper and more irreconcilable than any other. It is not directed against transitory attributes, but against the other person's very essence and being. Goethe has this type of “enemy” in mind when he writes: “Why complain about enemies?—Could those become your friends—To whom your very existence—Is an eternal silent reproach?” (West-Eastern Divan). The very existence of this “being,” his mere appearance, becomes a silent, unadmitted “reproach.””

Max Scheler (1874–1928) German philosopher

Other disputes can be settled, but not this! Goethe knew, for his rich and great existence was the ideal target of ressentiment. His very appearance was bound to make the poison flow.
Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912)

Marcus Aurelius photo
Ilana Mercer photo

“If for harming himself a man forfeits his freedom, then he was never free in the first place.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

“Addicted to that Rush,” http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=488 WorldNetDaily.com, March 6, 2009.
2000s, 2009

Vanna Bonta photo

“Truth may sometimes hurt, but delusion harms.”

Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) Italian-American writer, poet, inventor, actress, voice artist (1958-2014)

from Rewards of Passion, quoted on Wilfred FX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_%28U.S._TV_series%29, Season 3, Episode 6

Arthur Schopenhauer photo
Carson Grant photo

“As actors, we need public relations to campaign for our next possible role, and any media promoting our work seems positive in nature; but whether in theater or on a film set, a bad unprofessional photograph at the wrong angle may not be as flattering to some actors, and may be considered a harmful exposure.”

Carson Grant (1950) American actor

Ernest Dempsey, "Camera Shy?", Digital Journal: Arts, Jan 10, 2011, p. 1
Pointing to the negative publicity factor with unsolicited photographs, article printed in Digital Journal 2011.

Hideki Tōjō photo

“It is natural that I should bear entire responsibility for the war in general, and, needless to say, I am prepared to do so. Consequently, now that the war has been lost, it is presumably necessary that I be judged so that the circumstances of the time can be clarified and the future peace of the world be assured. Therefore, with respect to my trial, it is my intention to speak frankly, according to my recollection, even though when the vanquished stands before the victor, who has over him the power of life and death, he may be apt to toady and flatter. I mean to pay considerable attention to this in my actions, and say to the end that what is true is true and what is false is false. To shade one's words in flattery to the point of untruthfulness would falsify the trial and do incalculable harm to the nation, and great care must be taken to avoid this.”

Hideki Tōjō (1884–1948) former Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of War executed in 1948

Written in his prison diary https://books.google.com/books?id=aynFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA217&lpg=PA217&dq=%22I+should+bear+entire+responsibility+for+the+war+in+general%22&source=bl&ots=ov6_NlNuJx&sig=W_gAxNsPYqUMqh-FE1WF4CbCQ-8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QZHsVMKlLsKiNrnDg6AP&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22I%20should%20bear%20entire%20responsibility%20for%20the%20war%20in%20general%22&f=false, as quoted in The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42 https://books.google.com/books?id=LTZfBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA337&lpg=PA337&dq=%22I+should+bear+entire+responsibility+for+the+war+in+general%22&source=bl&ots=wiF4ARAlht&sig=EjofLr6zBGo9YG4b0dBGjL91VB0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QZHsVMKlLsKiNrnDg6AP&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22I%20should%20bear%20entire%20responsibility%20for%20the%20war%20in%20general%22&f=false (2014), by Bill Yenne, Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford Publishing, p. 337.
1940s

Jane Austen photo

“Man is an organism, not a mechanism; and the mechanical pacing of his life does harm to his human responses, which naturally follow a kind of free rhythm.”

Richard M. Weaver (1910–1963) American scholar

“Individuality and Modernity,” Essays on Individuality (Philadelphia: 1958), p. 66.

Pat Robertson photo

“I don't think there is any harm in it, but I tell you, there are demons and there are evil people in the world, and you post a picture like that and some cultist gets hold of it or a coven and they begin muttering curses against an unborn child. […] You never know what somebody's going to do.”

Pat Robertson (1930) American media mogul, executive chairman, and a former Southern Baptist minister

2015-02-16
Pat Robertson
The 700 Club
Television, quoted in * 2015-02-17
Pat Robertson: Satanic Covens Use Facebook To Curse Your Family
Brian
Tashman
Right Wing Watch
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-satanic-covens-use-facebook-curse-your-family
Answering a viewer question from Cynthia: "Young parents now regularly post fetal ultrasound photos as their Facebook photo. From a spiritual point of view is there any harm in doing this?"

Eugène Fromentin photo

“Interpreting the Orient through the arts would destroy it, the artistic exploitation might eventually prove as harmful as military or political adventurism.”

Eugène Fromentin (1820–1876) French painter

Quote from Three Nineteenth-Century French Writer/Artists & the Maghreb; Günther Narr, Verlag Tübingen, 1994, p. 51

Edgar Rice Burroughs photo
Van Morrison photo

“Oh redwood tree,
Please let us under,
When we were young we used to go,
Under the redwood tree,
And it smelled like rain,
Maybe even thunder,
Won't you keep us from all harm,
Wonderful redwood tree.”

Van Morrison (1945) Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician

Redwood Tree
Song lyrics, Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)

Hassan Nasrallah photo
S. M. Krishna photo

“India calls upon all parties to abjure violence and the use of threat and force to resolve the differences. I think the need of the hour is cessation of armed conflict, air strikes will lead to harm to innocent civilians, foreign nationals and diplomatic missions and their personnel who are still in Libya.”

S. M. Krishna (1932) Indian politician

Condemning the military intervention in Libya, March 21, 2011. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hRlDpPNOeggu1Rkz8-vUd32INbLw?docId=CNG.26f4275431f3c791c245845a136980cf.1301

David Petraeus photo

“Iran, as we have already discussed, has carried out very, very harmful activities inside Iraq. Funding, trainings, arming and, in some cases, even directing the activities of the special groups associated with the Jaish al-Mahdi and the Sadr Militia.”

David Petraeus (1952) retired American military officer and public official

As quoted in "Ranking House Committee Members Grill Crocker and Petraeus on U.S. Progress in Iraq" in The Washington Post (10 September 2007)

Joel Bakan photo

“As a psychopathic creature, the corporation can neither recognize nor act upon moral reasons to refrain from harming others.”

Joel Bakan (1959) Canadian writer, musician, filmmaker and legal scholar

Source: The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (2004), Chapter 3, The Externalizing Machines, p. 60

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi photo

“The hand that harms any Egyptian, must be cut.”

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (1954) Current President of Egypt

-El-sisi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSpNU7cxKKA
2013

Max Scheler photo

“There is usually no ressentiment just where a superficial view would look for it first: in the criminal. The criminal is essentially an active type. Instead of repressing hatred, revenge, envy, and greed, he releases them in crime. Ressentiment is a basic impulse only in the crimes of spite. These are crimes which require only a minimum of action and risk and from which the criminal draws no advantage, since they are inspired by nothing but the desire to do harm. The arsonist is the purest type in point, provided that he is not motivated by the pathological urge of watching fire (a rare case) or by the wish to collect insurance. Criminals of this type strangely resemble each other. Usually they are quiet, taciturn, shy, quite settled and hostile to all alcoholic or other excesses. Their criminal act is nearly always a sudden outburst of impulses of revenge or envy which have been repressed for years. A typical cause would be the continual deflation of one's ego by the constant sight of the neighbor's rich and beautiful farm. Certain expressions of class ressentiment, which have lately been on the increase, also fall under this heading. I mention a crime committed near Berlin in 1912: in the darkness, the criminal stretched a wire between two trees across the road, so that the heads of passing automobilists would be shorn off. This is a typical case of ressentiment, for any car driver or passenger at all could be the victim, and there is no interested motive. Also in cases of slander and defamation of character, ressentiment often plays a major role...”

Max Scheler (1874–1928) German philosopher

Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912)

Warren Zevon photo

“So much to do, there's plenty on the farm;
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
Saturday night I like to raise a little harm;
I'll sleep when I'm dead.”

Warren Zevon (1947–2003) American singer-songwriter

"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"
Warren Zevon (1976)

John Lancaster Spalding photo
Patrik Baboumian photo
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi photo
Seneca the Younger photo

“Friendship is always helpful, but love sometimes even does harm”
Amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XXXV

Janusz Korwin-Mikke photo

“A jump from the sixth floor is definitely more harmful than taking heroin, yet we don't forbid building sixth floors.”

Janusz Korwin-Mikke (1942) polish politician

Polish: Skok z szóstego piętra jest z całą pewnością bardziej szkodliwy niż zażywanie heroiny, aczkolwiek nie zakazujemy budowy szóstych pięter.
Source: drug legalization debate, 13 November 2007.

Ilana Mercer photo

“Whether they are armed with bombs or bacteria, stopping weaponized individuals from harming others ─ intentionally or unintentionally ─ falls perfectly within the purview of the “night-watchman state of classical-liberal theory”.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

“The Swine Are Loose,” http://takimag.com/article/the_swine_are_loose#axzz3461cvrNm Taki’s Magazine, May 2, 2009.
2000s, 2009

Jayde Nicole photo
Max Scheler photo

“Yet all this is not ressentiment. These are only stages in the development of its sources. Revenge, envy, the impulse to detract, spite, *Schadenfreude*, and malice lead to ressentiment only if there occurs neither a moral self-conquest (such as genuine forgiveness in the case of revenge) nor an act or some other adequate expression of emotion (such as verbal abuse or shaking one's fist), and if this restraint is caused by a pronounced awareness of impotence. There will be no ressentiment if he who thirsts for revenge really acts and avenges himself, if he who is consumed by hatred harms his enemy, gives him “a piece of his mind,” or even merely vents his spleen in the presence of others. Nor will the envious fall under the dominion of ressentiment if he seeks to acquire the envied possession by means of work, barter, crime, or violence. Ressentiment can only arise if these emotions are particularly powerful and yet must be suppressed because they are coupled with the feeling that one is unable to act them out—either because of weakness, physical or mental, or because of fear. Through its very origin, ressentiment is therefore chiefly confined to those who serve and are dominated at the moment, who fruitlessly resent the sting of authority. When it occurs elsewhere, it is either due to psychological contagion—and the spiritual venom of ressentiment is extremely contagious—or to the violent suppression of an impulse which subsequently revolts by “embittering” and “poisoning” the personality. If an ill-treated servant can vent his spleen in the antechamber, he will remain free from the inner venom of ressentiment, but it will engulf him if he must hide his feelings and keep his negative and hostile emotions to himself.”

Max Scheler (1874–1928) German philosopher

Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912)

Richard Stallman photo
Maneka Gandhi photo

“It is a win-win situation for us — no harm to janitors by way of daily exposure to chemicals, and cows will be valued more.”

Maneka Gandhi (1956) Indian politician and activist

On the use of gomutra as a floor cleaner, as quoted in "Holy cow! Government offices may soon be cleaned using liquid made from bovine urine" http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-01-09/news/57883715_1_cow-urine-product-floors, The Economic Times (9 January 2015)
2011-present

Saddam Hussein photo
Iain Banks photo
Leo Tolstoy photo
John F. Kelly photo

“The border is, if not wide open, then certainly open enough to get what the demand requires inside of the country. Terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States.”

John F. Kelly (1950) American politician and military officer; White House Chief of Staff since July 2017

Posture Statement of General John F. Kelly, United States Marine Corps Commander, United States Southern Command, before the 114th Congress Senate Armed Services Committee (March 12, 2015)
2010s

Brigham Young photo

“Some, in their curiosity, will say, "But you Mormons have another Bible! Do you believe in the Old and New Testaments?" I answer we do believe in the Old and New Testaments, and we have also another book, called the Book of Mormon. What are the doctrines of the Book of Mormon? The same as those of the Bible…"What good does it do you, Latter-day Saints?" It proves that the Bible is true. What do the infidel world say about the Bible? They say that the Bible is nothing better than last year's almanack; it is nothing but a fable and priestcraft, and it is good for nothing. The Book of Mormon, however, declares that the Bible is true, and it proves it; and the two prove each other true. The Old and New Testaments are the stick of Judah. You recollect that the tribe of Judah tarried in Jerusalem and the Lord blessed Judah, and the result was the writings of the Old and New Testaments. But where is the stick of Joseph? Can you tell where it is? Yes. It was the children of Joseph who came across the waters to this continent, and this land was filled with people, and the Book of Mormon or the stick of Joseph contains their writings, and they are in the hands of Ephraim. Where are the Ephraimites? They are mixed through all the nations of the earth. God is calling upon them to gather out, and He is uniting them, and they are giving the Gospel to the whole world. Is there any harm or any false doctrine in that? A great many say there is. If there is, it is all in the Bible.”

Brigham Young (1801–1877) Latter Day Saint movement leader

Journal of Discourses 13:174-175 (May 29, 1870)
1870s

Mariano Rajoy photo

“The measures we take harm people, but they are imperative.”

Mariano Rajoy (1955) Spanish politician

12 November, 2012
As President, 2012
Source: 20 minutos http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1651430/0/encuentro/rajoy-rousseff/espana-brasil/

Matthieu Ricard photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Sadao Araki photo

“I ask you to remember that the Japanese troops are a strictly disciplined force and perform their duties with as little harmfulness as possible.”

Sadao Araki (1877–1966) Japanese general

Quoted in "President Proposes" - Time Magazine - July 4, 1932

David Lange photo

“Our military forces are an arm of government, just like the Department of Social Welfare, although probably less able to inflict widespread harm.”

David Lange (1942–2005) New Zealand politician and 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand

Source: Defence Quarterly, 1993, p. 32.

Jimmy Carter photo
Rousas John Rushdoony photo
Derren Brown photo
Statius photo

“One of them, whose bent it was to harm the highest with lowly venom nor ever to bear with a willing neck the rulers placed over him.”
Aliquis, cui mens humili laesisse veneno summa nec impositos umquam ceruice volenti ferre duces.

Source: Thebaid, Book I, Line 171

John Ruskin photo
Ralph Steadman photo
John Derbyshire photo
Francis Thompson photo
Abd al-Karim Qasim photo

“Brethren: I advise you to avoid attacking any of your brothers even if he harms you or surpasses the limits of ingratitude. The strength of any one amongst you is the strength of the other.”

Abd al-Karim Qasim (1914–1963) Prime Minister of Iraq

The historical extempore speech at the Reserve Officers' College (1959)

Chris Murphy photo
Dio Chrysostom photo
Isaac Asimov photo
Mandell Creighton photo

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.”

Mandell Creighton (1843–1901) English historian and ecclesiastic

Quoted by Louise Creighton in Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton, vol. 2 http://books.google.com/books?id=XFrIeWud0_wC&q=%22no+people+do+so+much+harm+as+those+who+go+about+doing+good%22&pg=PA501#v=onepage. (1905)

Tony Abbott photo

“At least so far, it’s climate change policy that’s doing harm. Climate change itself is probably doing good; or at least, more good than harm.”

Tony Abbott (1957) Australian politician

Quoted in "Tony Abbott says climate change is 'probably doing good'" https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/10/tony-abbott-says-climate-change-is-probably-doing-good, The Guardian, October 10, 2017
2017

Ken Livingstone photo
John McCain photo

“Our government has a responsibility to defend our borders, but we must do so in a way that makes us safer and upholds all that is decent and exceptional about our nation.It is clear from the confusion at our airports across the nation that President Trump's executive order was not properly vetted. We are particularly concerned by reports that this order went into effect with little to no consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security.Such a hasty process risks harmful results. We should not stop green-card holders from returning to the country they call home. We should not stop those who have served as interpreters for our military and diplomats from seeking refuge in the country they risked their lives to help. And we should not turn our backs on those refugees who have been shown through extensive vetting to pose no demonstrable threat to our nation, and who have suffered unspeakable horrors, most of them women and children.Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism. At this very moment, American troops are fighting side-by-side with our Iraqi partners to defeat ISIL. But this executive order bans Iraqi pilots from coming to military bases in Arizona to fight our common enemies. Our most important allies in the fight against ISIL are the vast majority of Muslims who reject its apocalyptic ideology of hatred. This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country. That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

Statement by Senators McCain & Graham on Executive Order on Immigration (January 27, 2017) from the Office of Senator John McCain http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/1/statement-by-senators-mccain-graham-on-executive-order-on-immigration regarding [Donald J. Trump]'s Executive Order 13769 entitled "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States", as quoted by Jacob Sallum from Reason magazine in Here Is What Republican Critics of Trump's Immigration Order Are Saying on January 31, 2017 http://reason.com/blog/2017/01/31/here-is-what-republican-critics-of-trump
2010s, 2017

Luís de Camões photo

“He who inflicts a vile and unjust harm by using the power and the force with which he is invested, does not conquer; the true victory is to have on one's side Right naked and entire.”

Luís de Camões (1524–1580) Portuguese poet

Quem faz injúria vil e sem razão,
Com forças e poder em que está posto,
Não vence; que a vitória verdadeira
É saber ter justiça nua e inteira.
Stanza 58, lines 5–8 (tr. Joaquim Nabuco)
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto X

Richard Stallman photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Gottfried Feder photo

“Suppression of all harmful influences in literature and the press, stage, art and cinema.”

Gottfried Feder (1883–1941) German economist and politician

Source: The German State on a National and Socialist Foundation (1923), p. 56

John Donne photo
Jay Leiderman photo

“All acts, and only those acts, that coercively harm others are evil.”

Fred E. Foldvary (1946) American economist

Source: The Soul of Liberty (1980), p. 49.

Vasily Grossman photo

“We should not underestimate the harm it would bring should it be published.”

Vasily Grossman (1905–1964) Soviet writer and journalist who originally trained as an engineer

1960s