Misha Glenny - Bertrand Russell - Law Reform Commission of New South Wales - Daniel C Dennett - Horace - William Shakespeare - Norman Mailer - Omar Khayyam - Carlitto’s Way 1993 - Seneca - John Locke - John Stuart Mill - Harriet Beecher Stowe - Vladimir Nabokov - Henry Adams - Sophocles - Oscar Wilde - Richard Dawkins - W A Hammond - Robert Tressell - Mandell Creighton - Tonight TV - Gustave Flaubert - Bill Gates -
[Matthew] Fogg concluded that the harm done to African-Americans by the policing of drugs far outweighed the harm caused by the drugs themselves. Misha Glenny, McMafia
Fanaticism is the danger of the world. It always has been. And has done untold harm. Bertrand Russell, interview BBC 1959
Corporate crime poses a significant threat to the welfare of the community. Given the pervasive presence of corporations in a wide range of activities in our society, and the impact of their actions on a much wider group of people than are affected by individual action, the potential for both economic and physical harm caused by a corporation is great. Law Reform Commission of New South Wales: 2001
You don’t get to advertise all the good that your religion does without first scrupulously subtracting all the harm it does and considering seriously the question of whether some other religion, or no religion at all, does better. Daniel C Dennett
Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it. Horace
What, can you do me greater harm than hate? William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream III ii 271, Hermia
Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
As I have to be hurt. William Shakespeare, Othello V ii 169-170, Emiliea
And oftentimes to win us to our harm
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles to betray’s
In deepest consequence. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth I iii@121
I am in this earthly world, where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime
Accounted dangerous folly. ibid. IV ii @76, Lady MacDuff
It is myself I mean, in whom I know
All the particulars of vice so grafted
That when they shall be opened black Macbeth
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared
With my confineless harms. ibid. IV iii @51, Malcolm
We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers. William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra II i 5, Menecrates
Society is built on many people hurting many people; it is just who does the hurting, which is forever in dispute. Norman Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, 1968
As far as you can avoid it, do not give grief to anyone. Never inflict your rage on another. If you hope for eternal rest, feel the pain yourself; but don’t hurt others. Omar Khayyam, Quatrains
You know I said a prayer for you while you were inside – that harm would come to him who harmed you. Carlitto’s Way 1993 staring Al Pacino & Sean Penn & Penelope Ann Miller & John Leguizamo & Luis Guzman & Jorge Porcel & Ingrid Rogers & Ara Gelici & James Rebhorn & Joseph Siravo et al, director Brian de Palma
There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality. Lucius Annaeus Seneca
All mankind ... being all equal and independent, no-one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions. John Locke
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Perhaps it is impossible for a person who does no good to do no harm. Harriet Beecher Stowe
Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm. Vladimir Nabokov
It is always good men who do the most harm in the world. Henry Adams
There is a time when even justice brings harm. Sophocles
When I think of all the harm the Bible has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it. Oscar Wilde
It is possible in medicine, even when you intend to do good, to do harm instead. That is why science thrives on actively encouraging criticism rather than stifling it. Richard Dawkins
It seeming impossible in any other manner to properly restrict the use of this powerful agent [calomel, a mercury compound, mercurous chloride], it is directed that it be struck from the supply table, and that no further requisitions for this medicine be approved by Medical Directors ... Modern pathology has proved the impropriety of the use of mercury in very many of those diseases in which it was formerly unfailingly administered ... No doubt can exist that more harm has resulted from the misuse [of this agent], in the treatment of disease, than benefit from their proper administration. W A Hammond, Surgeon General’s advice, Washington 4th May 1863
The occupants of the first [safer coach] – Rushton, Didlum and Co. – might be classed as criminal lunatics who injured others as well as themselves. In a properly constituted system of society such men as these would be regarded as danger to the community, and would be placed under such restraint as would effectually prevent them from harming themselves or others. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good. Mandell Creighton, 1843-1901
Tonight: acid attacks on the increase. Calls for tougher action … Earlier this week Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of TV personality Ferne McCann, was convicted of using acid to attack 14 people in a nightclub. Tonight: Acid Attacks: How Scared Should We Be? ITV 2017
This summer saw a string of shocking attacks … In the past year there have been nearly 450 attacks. ibid.
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, 1821-80
The malaria parasite has been killing children and sapping the strength of whole populations for tens of thousands of years. It is impossible to calculate the harm malaria has done to the world. Bill Gates