Counterintuitive on Intent

We have all heard “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions” or some derivation, right? Well, it’s the lesson that keeps getting forgotten (especially by young people, who haven’t had the chance to learn it yet).

So today, a couple more quotes along those lines. First, Walter Williams writes:

What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done? It’s really a silly question, because the answer is so simple. It turns out that it’s human greed that gets the most wonderful things done.

When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I’m talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves.

Then there’s this quiz, courtesy of the Institute for Humane Studies Facebook page:

“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm– but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”

There is the “face” of greed:

And a better explanation: