He who permits wickedness commands it
Meaning: Silently allowing wrongdoing makes you as responsible as the wrongdoer.
Origin: Seneca's tragedy Troades has Agamemnon say: qui non vetat peccare, cum possit, iubet — he who does not forbid wrongdoing when he can, commands it. A related Latin legal maxim, qui non prohibet quod prohibere potest, assentire videtur, holds that whoever fails to forbid what he can forbid is taken to consent.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: Celui qui tolère le mal l'ordonne (literally: He who tolerates evil commands it)
- Spanish: Quien permite la maldad la ordena (literally: He who permits wickedness commands it)
- Japanese: 悪を許す者はそれを命じるに等しい (Aku wo yurusu mono wa sore wo meijiru ni hitoshii) (literally: He who permits evil is equal to commanding it)
- German: Wer schweigt, stimmt zu (literally: He who stays silent agrees)
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