"We may draw good out of evil; we must not do evil, that good may come"
About this Quote
Chapman’s line is a moral trapdoor disguised as common sense: yes, life can redeem what’s terrible, but you don’t get to manufacture the terrible and call yourself noble for it. The first clause concedes a hard truth familiar to anyone working in reform: suffering can produce clarity, solidarity, even political momentum. The second clause slams shut the most seductive loophole in activist reasoning - the idea that a righteous end can launder dirty means.
As an abolitionist-era writer, Chapman is speaking into a culture where “necessary evils” were not just excuses but policy. Slavery itself was defended as an economic inevitability; violence and coercion were rationalized as the price of order. Her phrasing flips that logic. “May” versus “must” does the heavy lifting: we may salvage meaning from harm after the fact, but we must refuse harm as a strategy. It’s a rebuke to moral opportunism, the kind that treats people’s bodies and futures as raw material for a better world.
The subtext feels modern because the temptation is modern. Every movement meets the same pressure: lie to win, dehumanize to mobilize, break rules to beat the enemy. Chapman’s sentence insists that ethical constraint isn’t a luxury item reserved for peacetime; it’s the credibility of the cause. If the good you claim to build requires committing evil on purpose, the “good” is already corrupted, just wearing a brighter label.
As an abolitionist-era writer, Chapman is speaking into a culture where “necessary evils” were not just excuses but policy. Slavery itself was defended as an economic inevitability; violence and coercion were rationalized as the price of order. Her phrasing flips that logic. “May” versus “must” does the heavy lifting: we may salvage meaning from harm after the fact, but we must refuse harm as a strategy. It’s a rebuke to moral opportunism, the kind that treats people’s bodies and futures as raw material for a better world.
The subtext feels modern because the temptation is modern. Every movement meets the same pressure: lie to win, dehumanize to mobilize, break rules to beat the enemy. Chapman’s sentence insists that ethical constraint isn’t a luxury item reserved for peacetime; it’s the credibility of the cause. If the good you claim to build requires committing evil on purpose, the “good” is already corrupted, just wearing a brighter label.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
|---|
More Quotes by Maria
Add to List
