quotations about intentions
A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
SENECA
Moral Essays
Unity of intent is on the lips of many, but in the hearts of few.
FAUSTO CERCIGNANI
Simply Transcribed: Quotations from Writings by Fausto Cercignani
The plea of good intentions is not one that can be allowed to have much weight in passing historical judgment upon a man whose wrong-headedness and distorted way of looking at things produced, or helped to produce, such incalculable evil; there is a wide political applicability in the remark attributed to a famous Texan, to the effect that he might, in the end, pardon a man who shot him on purpose, but that he would surely never forgive one who did so accidentally.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
American Statesman: Thomas Hart Benton