The ends justify the means
Meaning: A good outcome excuses questionable methods.
Origin: Often pinned on Machiavelli, who wrote in The Prince (1532) that in the actions of rulers one looks to the result, but never these words. Ovid's Heroides has exitus acta probat — the outcome justifies the deed — and the Jesuit theologian Hermann Busenbaum wrote in 1650 that when the end is lawful, the means are also lawful.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: La fin justifie les moyens (literally: The end justifies the means)
- Spanish: El fin justifica los medios (literally: The end justifies the means)
- Japanese: 目的のためには手段を選ばず (Mokuteki no tame ni wa shudan wo erabazu) (literally: For the goal, choose no means)
- German: Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel (literally: The purpose sanctifies the means)
More proverbs about Morality
- Charity begins at home — Take care of your own family before helping others.
- Don't look a gift horse in the mouth — Don't question the value of a gift.
- If the shoe fits, wear it — Accept criticism that accurately applies to you.
- The fish rots from the head down — Problems in an organization or society start at the top, with its leaders.
- The axe forgets, but the tree remembers — Those who cause harm often forget quickly, while those who suffer carry the wound far lon…
- A house divided against itself cannot stand — Internal conflict destroys an organization from within; unity is essential for survival.
From our compliments & insults
- Pareces un pulpo en un garaje — You're completely out of place — flailing around uselessly in an environment that makes n…
- Che rompiscatole — What an insufferable pest — someone who endlessly pesters and never lets you be.
- Testa quadrata — A rigid, inflexible blockhead who refuses to see beyond their fixed ideas.