"Doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune"
About this Quote
Morality, McFee implies, is not a talisman. "Doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune" cuts against the bargain we secretly want life to honor: behave decently, get rewarded; cut corners, get punished. The sentence works because it refuses that comforting symmetry and replaces it with something colder and truer - contingency. Misfortune arrives like weather, not like a verdict.
McFee, a seafaring writer shaped by the early 20th century's industrial churn and wartime disillusionment, aims at a modern anxiety: that the universe is not a moral accountant. His phrasing is deliberately plain, almost contractual. "No guarantee" borrows the language of commerce and insurance, turning ethics into something people shop for when they're scared. The subtext is faintly accusatory: if you expect protection for being good, you're not purely virtuous; you're negotiating.
The line also serves as a critique of victim-blaming and moral vanity. When tragedy strikes, cultures reach for stories that make it feel deserved - someone must have made a wrong turn. McFee interrupts that reflex. Bad things can happen to careful drivers, loyal spouses, honest workers. That isn't nihilism; it's a bracing call to separate goodness from outcome.
The intent, finally, is practical. If right action can't promise safety, it can still promise self-respect and social trust. McFee relocates the reason to be ethical from the external payoff to the internal stance: you do the right thing because it's right, not because you think the world owes you a refund.
McFee, a seafaring writer shaped by the early 20th century's industrial churn and wartime disillusionment, aims at a modern anxiety: that the universe is not a moral accountant. His phrasing is deliberately plain, almost contractual. "No guarantee" borrows the language of commerce and insurance, turning ethics into something people shop for when they're scared. The subtext is faintly accusatory: if you expect protection for being good, you're not purely virtuous; you're negotiating.
The line also serves as a critique of victim-blaming and moral vanity. When tragedy strikes, cultures reach for stories that make it feel deserved - someone must have made a wrong turn. McFee interrupts that reflex. Bad things can happen to careful drivers, loyal spouses, honest workers. That isn't nihilism; it's a bracing call to separate goodness from outcome.
The intent, finally, is practical. If right action can't promise safety, it can still promise self-respect and social trust. McFee relocates the reason to be ethical from the external payoff to the internal stance: you do the right thing because it's right, not because you think the world owes you a refund.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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