Can you be evil with good intentions?

If we define good as just having an intention of doing good toward ourselves or a smaller group of people, such as may be the case of nationalists like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Trump and others, then yes you can certainly do evil along side good intentions.

What is the old saying about good intentions?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions is an English proverb with a murky origin. The road to hell is paved with good intentions means that it is not enough to simply mean to do well, one must take action to do well. A good intention is meaningless unless it is followed by a good action.

Do intentions or actions matter more?

What matters even more than your actions are the consequences of your actions. This means that intentions do matter, but only insofar as they cause you to engage in actions that make your life and the lives of people around you better.

WHO said most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions?

T.S. Eliot
Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions. The above statement has been attributed to the famous poet and playwright T.S. Eliot, but I have never seen a solid citation.

Are intentions more important than consequences?

The great jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once wrote that, “even a dog knows the difference between being kicked and being tripped over.” Even though the consequences may be the same, from the dog’s perspective, intentmakes all the difference.

Does intention matter in action when considering if something is a good or bad act?

It defines the purpose of different actions carried out. Therefore, it is right to say that if an intention is good or evil, then it ought to be morally justified. However, the end does not justify the means, in other words a wrong/evil intention does not result in a good moral act.

Can an action be a bad action if it is done with good intentions?

The intention of an action is often not distinguished from its motive. Actions can be morally bad (to a certain extent) even if their motives are good. Suppose that a person A does something because she thinks it will make B happy.

What is bad intention?

Malice is the intention to cause harm. They’ve got bad intentions. Just like the Spanish mal, this is a word for badness or evil. Malice isn’t just any evil, though: it’s evil done intentionally by someone seeking to do harm.