--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'm not involved, not involved,\" I…" description: "\"“I'm not involved, not involved,\" I repeated. It has been an article of my creed. The human condition being what it was, let them fight, let them love,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23a/graham-greene-441_human-condition_i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated_1709684.jpg" --- # I'm not involved, not involved," I repeated. It has been… ![“I'm not involved, not involved," I repeated. It has been an article of my creed. The human condition being what it was, let them fight, let them love, let them murder, I would not be involved. My fellow journalists called themselves correspondents; I preferred the title of reporter. I wrote what I…” quote by Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23a/graham-greene-441_human-condition_i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated_1709684.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23a/graham-greene-441_human-condition_i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated_1709684.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23a/graham-greene-441_human-condition_i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated_1709684.jpg) > ““I'm not involved, not involved," I repeated. It has been an article of my creed. The human condition being what it was, let them fight, let them love, let them murder, I would not be involved. My fellow journalists called themselves correspondents; I preferred the title of reporter. I wrote what I saw. I took no action – even an opinion is a kind of action.”” [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. The narrator claims neutrality, refusing to intervene despite witnessing events, highlighting the paradox that even non‑action is a choice. **In simple terms:** Staying neutral is still a decision. Key Takeaway Recognize that inaction has consequences. Themes journalism ethics neutrality Mood reflective serious Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - war reporting - political unrest - personal dilemmas Key Concepts moral responsibility observer effect Questions to Reflect On - Is true objectivity possible? - What responsibilities do observers have? A Different Perspective Neutrality can be seen as tacit endorsement of the status quo. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Human condition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-condition/) [Journalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journalism/) ## Related quotes > [“My fellow journalists called themselves correspondents; I preferred the title of reporter. I wrote what I saw. I took no action-even an opinion is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/my-fellow-journalists-called-themselves-correspondents-i-preferred/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [It used to be, if you were a reporter, you wrote a story and then you moved on to the next one. We were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-baquet/it-used-to-be-if-you-were-a-reporter-you-wrote-a-story-and-then-you/) [Dean Baquet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-baquet/) > [“A New York times reporter wrote about David Wilkerson,"He was the model of absolute simplicity, directness and non-sophistication. He sought out gang members, drug…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-wilkerson/a-new-york-times-reporter-wrote-about-david-wilkerson-he-was-the/) Gary Wilkerson > [As a former reporter, I wrote 'The Scarecrow' quickly - I didn't have to think about what the character would do the way I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-connelly/as-a-former-reporter-i-wrote-the-scarecrow-quickly-i-didn-t-have-to/) [Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) > [The reporter wrote with the hope that he would get a by-line in the Times, a testimony to his being alive on that day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gay-talese/the-reporter-wrote-with-the-hope-that-he-would-get-a-by-line-in-the/) [Gay Talese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gay-talese/) > [Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/writing-is-a-form-of-therapy-sometimes-i-wonder-how-all-those-who-do/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“I succumbed. Late-fifteenth-century verb, Old French succomber or Latin succumbere, but a basic necessity of the human condition, especially mine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/i-succumbed-late-fifteenth-century-verb-old-french-succomber-or-latin/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [That's why we trust the Bible - it speaks to both realities: the unchanging human condition and the constantly changing cultural conditions. It speaks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-yaconelli/that-s-why-we-trust-the-bible-it-speaks-to-both-realities-the/) [Mike Yaconelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-yaconelli/) > [I think that laziness in many ways is the human condition, and that's what has led us to this place where, as we've developed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-offerman/i-think-that-laziness-in-many-ways-is-the-human-condition-and-that-s/) [Nick Offerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-offerman/) > [My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/my-horizon-on-humanity-is-enlarged-by-reading-the-writers-of-poems/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [“A basic guide for application offers this equation: The intention of the text The human condition of the text The human situation of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zack-eswine/a-basic-guide-for-application-offers-this-equation-the-intention-of/) [Zack Eswine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zack-eswine/) > [Changes in human conditions are brought about by the pioneering of the cleverest and most energetic men. They take the lead and the rest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/changes-in-human-conditions-are-brought-about-by-the-pioneering-of/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [I'm a Christian because Christianity names and addresses sin. It acknowledges the reality that the evil we observe in the world is also present…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-held-evans/i-m-a-christian-because-christianity-names-and-addresses-sin-it/) [Rachel Held Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-held-evans/) > [“It's the basic truth of the human condition: everybody lies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/house/it-s-the-basic-truth-of-the-human-condition-everybody-lies/) [house](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/house/) > [“I sighed, he sighed, the wind and flowers sighed too. I think those marble statues sighed along as well, in their lack of understanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-c-andrews/i-sighed-he-sighed-the-wind-and-flowers-sighed-too-i-think-those/) [V.C. Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-c-andrews/) ## 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 Human condition quotes > [“I sighed, he sighed, the wind and flowers sighed too. I think those marble statues sighed along as well, in their lack of understanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-c-andrews/i-sighed-he-sighed-the-wind-and-flowers-sighed-too-i-think-those/) [V.C. Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-c-andrews/) > [“It's the basic truth of the human condition: everybody lies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/house/it-s-the-basic-truth-of-the-human-condition-everybody-lies/) [house](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/house/) > [I'm a Christian because Christianity names and addresses sin. It acknowledges the reality that the evil we observe in the world is also present…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-held-evans/i-m-a-christian-because-christianity-names-and-addresses-sin-it/) [Rachel Held Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-held-evans/) > [Changes in human conditions are brought about by the pioneering of the cleverest and most energetic men. They take the lead and the rest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/changes-in-human-conditions-are-brought-about-by-the-pioneering-of/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [“A basic guide for application offers this equation: The intention of the text The human condition of the text The human situation of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zack-eswine/a-basic-guide-for-application-offers-this-equation-the-intention-of/) [Zack Eswine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zack-eswine/) > [My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/my-horizon-on-humanity-is-enlarged-by-reading-the-writers-of-poems/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [I think that laziness in many ways is the human condition, and that's what has led us to this place where, as we've developed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-offerman/i-think-that-laziness-in-many-ways-is-the-human-condition-and-that-s/) [Nick Offerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-offerman/) > [That's why we trust the Bible - it speaks to both realities: the unchanging human condition and the constantly changing cultural conditions. It speaks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-yaconelli/that-s-why-we-trust-the-bible-it-speaks-to-both-realities-the/) [Mike Yaconelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-yaconelli/) > [“I succumbed. Late-fifteenth-century verb, Old French succomber or Latin succumbere, but a basic necessity of the human condition, especially mine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/i-succumbed-late-fifteenth-century-verb-old-french-succomber-or-latin/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [There is no way to explain enlightenment. It is just a word to indicate something beyond, something very, very far beyond the normal human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/there-is-no-way-to-explain-enlightenment-it-is-just-a-word-to/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [I see film as a real opportunity to examine the human condition. No matter where the technology goes in the future, the basics don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-schultz/i-see-film-as-a-real-opportunity-to-examine-the-human-condition-no/) [Michael Schultz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-schultz/) > [Trusting people to be creative and constructive when given more freedom does not imply an overly optimistic belief in the perfectibility of human nature.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-senge/trusting-people-to-be-creative-and-constructive-when-given-more/) [Peter Senge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-senge/) > [The largest room in the world is room for improvement. You know, some mornings my thighs are fat. Some days my hair looks great.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/the-largest-room-in-the-world-is-room-for-improvement-you-know-some/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [ “\[...\] if Jesus is not the answer to the human condition, there is no answer.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nik-ripken/if-jesus-is-not-the-answer-to-the-human-condition-there-is-no-answer/) [Nik Ripken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nik-ripken/) > [Every man beholds his human condition with a degree of melancholy. As a ship aground is battered by the waves, so man, imprisonedin mortal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/every-man-beholds-his-human-condition-with-a-degree-of-melancholy-as/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Browse all 1,025 Human condition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-condition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I'm not involved, not involved,\" I repeated. It has been an article of my creed. The human condition being what it was, let them fight, let them love, let them murder, I would not be involved. My fellow journalists called themselves correspondents; I preferred the title of reporter. I wrote what I saw. I took no action – even an opinion is a kind of action.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Graham Greene" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated-it-has-been-an-article-of-my/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Human condition" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated-it-has-been-an-article-of-my/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23a/graham-greene-441_human-condition_i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated_1709684.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23a/graham-greene-441_human-condition_i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated_1709684.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23a/graham-greene-441_human-condition_i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated_1709684.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I'm not involved, not involved,\" I repeated. It has been an article of my creed. The human condition being…” — 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'm not involved, not involved,\" I...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated-it-has-been-an-article-of-my/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-m-not-involved-not-involved-i-repeated-it-has-been-an-article-of-my/#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 } } ] } ```