quotations about apathy
Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
JOHN STUART MILL
Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St. Andrews, Feb. 1, 1867
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
And I have become
Comfortably numb.
PINK FLOYD
"Comfortably Numb"
Those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters, for without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves we collude with it through our apathy.
J. K. ROWLING
speech, Jun. 5, 2008
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings.
HELEN KELLER
My Religion
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
The Devil's Disciple
Apathy is the death knell of any order. Once a system has degenerated to the point that apathy is the only thing holding it in place it, it is in its twilight phase. Then one day the music stops.
JOHN BERLING HARDY
The Hidden Game Revealed
It was not apathy. It was an intelligent disinterest in those things that could have no bearing on one's existence.
TANITH LEE
Red as Blood; or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer
Apathy goes to the root of our moral and spiritual crisis today.... Apathy is the loss of ability to feel indignant at the work of evil in our lives and in the lives of others. It is the absence of outrage against injustice. It is the erosion of ability to commit oneself to important causes, to care deeply about other people, and to take risks in the struggle against every form of human bondage.
DANIEL MIGLIORE
"Passion of God and the Prophetic TAsk of Pastoral Ministry"
Apathy and evil. The two work hand in hand. They are the same, really.... Evil wills it. Apathy allows it. Evil hates the innocent and the defenseless most of all. Apathy doesn't care as long as it's not personally inconvenienced.
JAKE THOENE
Shaiton's Fire
Political apathy is the luxury of an affluent society where the majority does not feel threatened and people's basic needs are met. Under such circumstances, apathy is understandable, predictable, and perhaps even rational.
THOMAS MAGSTADT
Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions, and Issues
Apathy is the glove in which evil slips its hand.
ANONYMOUS
Apathy. A sort of living oblivion.
HORACE GREELEY
attributed, Edge-Tools of Speech
Apathy adds up, in the long run, to cowardice.
ROLLO MAY
The Courage to Create
Apathy is a spiritual numbness that creeps in and corrupts the good that God intends for our life and the good that He wants us to accomplish for Him and His kingdom.
ELIZABETH GEORGE
A Woman's Walk with God
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.
ELIE WIESEL
US News & World Report, Oct. 27, 1986
Apathy is the overrated protection of that rock you're hiding under.
LAURA J. W. RYAN
Dusty Waters: A Ghost Story
It is ... far more important to resist apathy than anarchy or despotism for apathy can give rise, almost indifferently, to either one.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
Democracy in America
Apathy is a yet another luxury we can no longer afford.
BRYN MICKLE
"Democracy the big winner in presidential primary after Flint debate", MLive, March 11, 2016
Apathy is one of the characteristic responses of any living organism when it is subjected to stimuli too intense or too complicated to cope with. The cure for apathy is comprehension.
JOHN DOS PASSOS
The Prospect Before Us
Apathy is the self-defense of the powerless.
LETTY POGREBIN
Deborah, Golda, and Me