"High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments"
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Hitchens refuses the sentimental idea that only the virtuous can do virtuous things. Moral progress emerges from the actions of fallible people, often at moments when their flaws are vivid. History bears this out. Winston Churchill held blinkered imperial views yet rallied a democracy against fascism when it counted. Lyndon Johnson was crude, bullying, and compromised, but he forced through landmark civil rights legislation. Thomas Jefferson wrote stirring words about equality while enslaving people, yet those words became ammunition for abolition and civil rights movements. Oskar Schindler began as a war profiteer and ended up saving hundreds of lives. The ledger of character rarely maps cleanly onto the ledger of accomplishment.
For Hitchens, who delighted in puncturing pieties, the point undercuts both saint-worship and moral gatekeeping. He argued against the notion that moral authority flows from spotless belief or private sanctity, whether religious or secular. A cause does not become less just because its champion is imperfect, and a life does not become exemplary because it is exalted. The metric that matters is the tangible relief of suffering, the expansion of freedom, the defense of truth under pressure.
There is a practical politics here as well. High standards are essential, but purity tests can become a luxury that the oppressed cannot afford. Coalitions are built with real people, not icons, and progress often requires strange bedfellows and unsentimental bargains. Decoupling accomplishment from personal saintliness does not excuse vice; it insists on two kinds of judgment at once. Credit good outcomes, demand accountability for harms, and resist the lazy conflation that turns every hero into a plaster saint and every sinner into a moral nullity.
The lesson is bracing and liberating: do not wait for angels to deliver justice. Support the imperfect efforts that move the world forward, and keep sharpening the tools of criticism so that progress does not demand blind devotion.
For Hitchens, who delighted in puncturing pieties, the point undercuts both saint-worship and moral gatekeeping. He argued against the notion that moral authority flows from spotless belief or private sanctity, whether religious or secular. A cause does not become less just because its champion is imperfect, and a life does not become exemplary because it is exalted. The metric that matters is the tangible relief of suffering, the expansion of freedom, the defense of truth under pressure.
There is a practical politics here as well. High standards are essential, but purity tests can become a luxury that the oppressed cannot afford. Coalitions are built with real people, not icons, and progress often requires strange bedfellows and unsentimental bargains. Decoupling accomplishment from personal saintliness does not excuse vice; it insists on two kinds of judgment at once. Credit good outcomes, demand accountability for harms, and resist the lazy conflation that turns every hero into a plaster saint and every sinner into a moral nullity.
The lesson is bracing and liberating: do not wait for angels to deliver justice. Support the imperfect efforts that move the world forward, and keep sharpening the tools of criticism so that progress does not demand blind devotion.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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