---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have never planned anything illegal in…"
description: "\"“I have never planned anything illegal in my life,' Aunt Augusta said. 'How could I plan anything of the kind when I have never read any of the laws an..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82d/graham-greene-441_life_i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in_1466599.jpg"
---

#  I have never planned anything illegal in my life,' Aunt…

![“I have never planned anything illegal in my life,' Aunt Augusta said. 'How could I plan anything of the kind when I have never read any of the laws and have no idea what they are?” quote by Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82d/graham-greene-441_life_i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in_1466599.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82d/graham-greene-441_life_i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in_1466599.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82d/graham-greene-441_life_i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in_1466599.jpg)

> ““I have never planned anything illegal in my life,' Aunt Augusta said. 'How could I plan anything of the kind when I have never read any of the laws and have no idea what they are?””

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A character claims innocence by claiming ignorance of the law, highlighting moral ambiguity and the limits of knowledge.

**In simple terms:** Ignorance of law claimed as excuse.

Key Takeaway

Question your own moral responsibility.

Themes

morality law ignorance

Mood

reflective critical

Type

ethical philosophical

When to use this quote

- personal decisions
- professional conduct
- public policy
- education

Key Concepts

ethical relativism legal awareness

Questions to Reflect On

- Do you think ignorance can excuse wrongdoing?
- How does knowledge shape moral choices?

A Different Perspective

Ignorance does not absolve accountability.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/)

## Related quotes

> [Lady Bracknell. Good afternoon, dear Algernon, I hope you are behaving very well. Algernon. I’m feeling very well, Aunt Augusta. Lady Bracknell. That’s not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/lady-bracknell-good-afternoon-dear-algernon-i-hope-you-are-behaving/)

[Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/)

> [“The purpose of family is to preserve life,' Aunt Patti said. 'We treat family members the way we're supposed to treat everyone on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-rosenberg/the-purpose-of-family-is-to-preserve-life-aunt-patti-said-we-treat/)

[Liz Rosenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-rosenberg/)

> [“Ah! That must be Aunt Augusta. Only relatives, or creditors, ever ring in that Wagnerian manner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/ah-that-must-be-aunt-augusta-only-relatives-or-creditors-ever-ring-in/)

[Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/)

> [My aunt got me interested in journalism - she found an old typewriter, had it worked over, put it on the dining room table,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-jenkins/my-aunt-got-me-interested-in-journalism-she-found-an-old-typewriter/)

[Dan Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-jenkins/)

> [Both the five-year-olds looked at me with bewilderment and a bit of fearful uncertainty. I had a sudden horrifying image of the woman I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/both-the-five-year-olds-looked-at-me-with-bewilderment-and-a-bit-of/)

[Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/)

> [I only wanted Uncle Vernon standing by his own car (a Hudson) on a clear day, I got him and the car. Ialso got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-friedlander/i-only-wanted-uncle-vernon-standing-by-his-own-car-a-hudson-on-a/)

[Lee Friedlander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-friedlander/)

> [“I look like Barbara Bush in drag." Aunt Jettie”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-harper/i-look-like-barbara-bush-in-drag-aunt-jettie/)

[Molly Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-harper/)

> [In the summer of 1964, my sister and I went to South Ballston, Virginia, to stay with my aunt and her kids. They passed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-p-jones/in-the-summer-of-1964-my-sister-and-i-went-to-south-ballston-virginia/)

[Edward P. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-p-jones/)

> [I'll just do a round around of the house and make sure the rest of the family are fast asleep. We don't want that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerstin-gier/i-ll-just-do-a-round-around-of-the-house-and-make-sure-the-rest-of/)

[Kerstin Gier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerstin-gier/)

> [“Aunt Helen Beck had many intentions about her death. She was about being dead the way some people are about being British - she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-mccracken/aunt-helen-beck-had-many-intentions-about-her-death-she-was-about/)

[Elizabeth McCracken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-mccracken/)

> [My aunt and uncle are clearly civilians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-kimmel/my-aunt-and-uncle-are-clearly-civilians/)

[Jimmy Kimmel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-kimmel/)

> [“Quin took on the air of someone who has just realized it's time for the yearly visit to the spinster great-aunt in a desperate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-fecteau/quin-took-on-the-air-of-someone-who-has-just-realized-it-s-time-for/)

[Amy Fecteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-fecteau/)

> [I was painfully shy, so my aunt suggested to my mum that me and my brother go to Stage 84, a performing arts school…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-cooke/i-was-painfully-shy-so-my-aunt-suggested-to-my-mum-that-me-and-my/)

[Christian Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-cooke/)

> [Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/your-aunt-and-uncle-will-be-proud-though-won-t-they-said-hermione-as/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“My aunt Carol hasn’t heard her say a word in the whole six years and three months of Grace’s life—not a single syllable. Carol…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/my-aunt-carol-hasn-t-heard-her-say-a-word-in-the-whole-six-years-and/)

[Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/)

## More by Graham Greene

> [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“What is cowardice in the young is wisdom in the old, but all the same one can be ashamed of wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/what-is-cowardice-in-the-young-is-wisdom-in-the-old-but-all-the-same/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Pity is cruel. Pity destroys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/pity-is-cruel-pity-destroys/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Hate is a lack of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/hate-is-a-lack-of-imagination/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/despair-is-the-price-one-pays-for-setting-oneself-an-impossible-aim/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“Knowledge was the great thing--not abstract knowledge in which Dr. Forester had been so rich, the theories which lead one enticingly on with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/knowledge-was-the-great-thing-not-abstract-knowledge-in-which-dr/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [With Your great schemes, You ruin our happiness like a harvester ruins a mouse's nest: I hate You, God, I hate You as though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/with-your-great-schemes-you-ruin-our-happiness-like-a-harvester-ruins/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/heresy-is-only-another-word-for-freedom-of-thought/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“He had thought that home was something one possessed, but the things one had possessed were cursed with change; it was what one didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-had-thought-that-home-was-something-one-possessed-but-the-things/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/perhaps-the-comparison-is-closer-to-the-chinese-cook-who-leaves/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“He said, ‘Oh god, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live forever.’ This was the love he should have felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-said-oh-god-help-her-damn-me-i-deserve-it-but-let-her-live-forever/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“A police photograph is like a passport photograph: the intelligence which casts a veil over the crude common shape is never recorded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/a-police-photograph-is-like-a-passport-photograph-the-intelligence/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [ “I tossed up whether I'd see \[the critic\] or not: I knew too well the pompous phrases of his article, the buried significance he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-tossed-up-whether-i-d-see-the-critic-or-not-i-knew-too-well-the/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/success-is-more-dangerous-than-failure-the-ripples-break-over-a-wider/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“But we do not love people for what they do for us. Love happens to us; it isn't created.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/but-we-do-not-love-people-for-what-they-do-for-us-love-happens-to-us/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

[Explore all 550 Graham Greene quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

## More Aunt quotes

> [“My aunt Carol hasn’t heard her say a word in the whole six years and three months of Grace’s life—not a single syllable. Carol…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/my-aunt-carol-hasn-t-heard-her-say-a-word-in-the-whole-six-years-and/)

[Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/)

> [Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/your-aunt-and-uncle-will-be-proud-though-won-t-they-said-hermione-as/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [I was painfully shy, so my aunt suggested to my mum that me and my brother go to Stage 84, a performing arts school…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-cooke/i-was-painfully-shy-so-my-aunt-suggested-to-my-mum-that-me-and-my/)

[Christian Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-cooke/)

> [“Quin took on the air of someone who has just realized it's time for the yearly visit to the spinster great-aunt in a desperate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-fecteau/quin-took-on-the-air-of-someone-who-has-just-realized-it-s-time-for/)

[Amy Fecteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-fecteau/)

> [My aunt and uncle are clearly civilians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-kimmel/my-aunt-and-uncle-are-clearly-civilians/)

[Jimmy Kimmel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-kimmel/)

> [“Aunt Helen Beck had many intentions about her death. She was about being dead the way some people are about being British - she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-mccracken/aunt-helen-beck-had-many-intentions-about-her-death-she-was-about/)

[Elizabeth McCracken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-mccracken/)

> [I'll just do a round around of the house and make sure the rest of the family are fast asleep. We don't want that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerstin-gier/i-ll-just-do-a-round-around-of-the-house-and-make-sure-the-rest-of/)

[Kerstin Gier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerstin-gier/)

> [In the summer of 1964, my sister and I went to South Ballston, Virginia, to stay with my aunt and her kids. They passed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-p-jones/in-the-summer-of-1964-my-sister-and-i-went-to-south-ballston-virginia/)

[Edward P. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-p-jones/)

> [“I look like Barbara Bush in drag." Aunt Jettie”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-harper/i-look-like-barbara-bush-in-drag-aunt-jettie/)

[Molly Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-harper/)

> [I only wanted Uncle Vernon standing by his own car (a Hudson) on a clear day, I got him and the car. Ialso got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-friedlander/i-only-wanted-uncle-vernon-standing-by-his-own-car-a-hudson-on-a/)

[Lee Friedlander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-friedlander/)

> [Both the five-year-olds looked at me with bewilderment and a bit of fearful uncertainty. I had a sudden horrifying image of the woman I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/both-the-five-year-olds-looked-at-me-with-bewilderment-and-a-bit-of/)

[Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/)

> [My aunt got me interested in journalism - she found an old typewriter, had it worked over, put it on the dining room table,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-jenkins/my-aunt-got-me-interested-in-journalism-she-found-an-old-typewriter/)

[Dan Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-jenkins/)

> [This kind of thing always amazed Ginny--people who just walked away from institutions. People who left school when they didn't see the point. Aunt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-johnson/this-kind-of-thing-always-amazed-ginny-people-who-just-walked-away/)

[Maureen Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-johnson/)

> [“You will not be able to shelter her forever,” my aunt insists. “What will happen when you are gone someday, and all the suitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-forest/you-will-not-be-able-to-shelter-her-forever-my-aunt-insists-what-will/)

[Laurie Forest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-forest/)

> [my sweet old etcetera aunt lucy during the recent war could and what is more did tell you just what everybody was fighting for,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-sweet-old-etcetera-aunt-lucy-during-the-recent-war-could-and-what/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

Browse all 720 Aunt quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“I have never planned anything illegal in my life,' Aunt Augusta said. 'How could I plan anything of the kind when I have never read any of the laws and have no idea what they are?”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Graham Greene"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in-my-life-aunt-augusta-said/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Aunt"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in-my-life-aunt-augusta-said/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82d/graham-greene-441_life_i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in_1466599.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82d/graham-greene-441_life_i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in_1466599.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82d/graham-greene-441_life_i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in_1466599.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I have never planned anything illegal in my life,' Aunt Augusta said. 'How could I plan anything of the kind…” — Graham Greene",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Graham Greene",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“I have never planned anything illegal...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in-my-life-aunt-augusta-said/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-never-planned-anything-illegal-in-my-life-aunt-augusta-said/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
