December 14, 2025

No example is so dangerous, as that of violence employed by well-meaning people for beneficial objects.

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859), French historian, politician, The Ancien Régime (1856), Jay p.367

Does the end ever justify the means?

There are many kinds of means. Some can be justified in light of their end; perhaps the misrepresenting of some fact in a spirited debate. But there is no excuse for violence, even for what appears to be a beneficial end.