INACTION

To the rich man, Lazarus was part of the landscape. If ever he did notice him, it never struck him that Lazarus had anything to do with him. He was simply unaware of his presence, or, if he was aware of it, he had no sense of responsibility for it. A man may well be condemned, not for doing something, but for doing nothing.

William Barclay

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.

Dante

Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.

Leonardo da Vinci

In Germany, they first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

 Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

 Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

 Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Catholic.

 Then they came for me – and by that time there was nobody left to speak up.

Marton Niemoller, German Lutheran pastor speaking about the Holocaust