Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker argues that inaction when one could prevent a killing is morally equivalent to committing the act.
In plain terms
Not stopping a murder you could stop is as bad as doing it.
What can you take from it?
Inaction in the face of preventable harm carries moral weight.

Where it applies

  • bystander intervention
  • legal duty

Putting it to work

  • intervene when safe
  • accept moral accountability

Questions to consider

  • When is inaction a choice?
  • What defines preventable harm?

Another view

Not all inaction is morally equal depending on capacity.

More from Orson Scott Card

  1. You're making us very tired, with all your thinking of stupid imaginary impossible things.

    Permalink to quote #195

  2. You both refuse to listen to anybody else. You know better about everything. And when you're both done, many many innocent people are dead.

    Permalink to quote #197

  3. Part of you but also not-you. Other. Outside but inside. Bound to you but free. It couldn't control you and you couldn't control it.

    Permalink to quote #194

Related quotes

  1. A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury. The latter c…

    John Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill quote #15

  2. I do not believe in forgiveness as it is preached by the church. We do not need the forgiveness of God, but of each other and of ourselves. If I rob Mr. Smith …

    Robert G. IngersollRobert G. Ingersoll quote #18

  3. We should all do something to right the wrongs that we see and not just complain about them.

    Jacqueline Kennedy OnassisJacqueline Kennedy Onassis quote #21