--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This inability to think created the…" description: "\"This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which had never been seen b..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/hannah-arendt-610_ability_this-inability-to-think-created-the-poss_2865914.jpg" --- # This inability to think created the possibility for many… ![“This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which had never been seen before. The manifestation of the wind of thought is not knowledge but the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly. And I hope that…” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/hannah-arendt-610_ability_this-inability-to-think-created-the-poss_2865914.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/hannah-arendt-610_ability_this-inability-to-think-created-the-poss_2865914.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/hannah-arendt-610_ability_this-inability-to-think-created-the-poss_2865914.jpg) > “This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which had never been seen before. The manifestation of the wind of thought is not knowledge but the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly. And I hope that thinking gives people the strength to prevent catastrophes in these rare moments when the chips are down.” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Moral failure enables ordinary people to commit massive evil; thinking must guide ethical judgment **In simple terms:** Thinking separates right from wrong and prevents catastrophe Key Takeaway Cultivate critical moral reasoning to avert disaster Themes ethics history human nature Mood serious reflective Type political philosophical When to use this quote - Education - policy making - community dialogue Key Concepts Moral philosophy collective responsibility Questions to Reflect On - What role do institutions play in preventing atrocities? - How can societies foster moral courage? A Different Perspective Thinking alone may not stop evil without structural safeguards ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ability/) [Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful/) [Catastrophe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/catastrophe/) [Deeds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deeds/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Manifestation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manifestation/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Ordinary man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary-man/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) [Rare moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rare-moments/) [Right From Wrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-from-wrong/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought/) [Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wind/) ## Related quotes > [“Do you not feel me near? I'm bending forward on the wind of thought, Sailing toward you on the lake of mind. O share…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-monro/do-you-not-feel-me-near-i-m-bending-forward-on-the-wind-of-thought/) [Harold Monro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-monro/) > [A boy's will is the wind's will, and the thought's of youth are long, long thoughhts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/a-boy-s-will-is-the-wind-s-will-and-the-thought-s-of-youth-are-long/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [Our inability to think beyond our own species, or to be able to co-habit with other life forms in what is patently a massive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-anthony/our-inability-to-think-beyond-our-own-species-or-to-be-able-to-co/) [Lawrence Anthony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-anthony/) > [What a blessing to be alone with your thoughts when so many are alone with their inability to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/what-a-blessing-to-be-alone-with-your-thoughts-when-so-many-are-alone/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [“What restricts you is your inability to think that you can do it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeekeshen-chinnappen/what-restricts-you-is-your-inability-to-think-that-you-can-do-it/) [Jeekeshen Chinnappen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeekeshen-chinnappen/) > [“No where in 'humpty dumpty' did it say he was an egg. 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Ford > [If the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/if-the-ability-to-tell-right-from-wrong-should-turn-out-to-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [If the ability to tell right from wrong should have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/if-the-ability-to-tell-right-from-wrong-should-have-anything-to-do/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There can be moments onstage - but sometimes in a movie, too - where you just feel you're in a golden space. You're in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-broderick/there-can-be-moments-onstage-but-sometimes-in-a-movie-too-where-you/) [Matthew Broderick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-broderick/) > [In some situations I was difficult, in odd moments impossible, in rare moments loathsome, but at my best unapproachably great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-levant/in-some-situations-i-was-difficult-in-odd-moments-impossible-in-rare/) [Oscar Levant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-levant/) > [The rare moment is not the moment when there is something worth looking at, but the moment when we are capable of seeing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-wood-krutch/the-rare-moment-is-not-the-moment-when-there-is-something-worth/) [Joseph Wood Krutch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-wood-krutch/) > [She opened her mouth but did not immediately speak, and I felt, simultaneously, the impulse to coax the words from her and the impulse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-sittenfeld/she-opened-her-mouth-but-did-not-immediately-speak-and-i-felt/) [Curtis Sittenfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-sittenfeld/) > [In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-kennedy/in-those-rare-moments-when-such-a-person-comes-along-we-need-to-put/) [Caroline Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-kennedy/) > [The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-workman-of-today-works-every-day-in-his-life-at-the-same-tasks/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. Imperialist expansion had been touched off by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-imperialists-actually-wanted-was-expansion-of-political-power/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/forgiveness-is-the-key-to-action-and-freedom/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/death-not-merely-ends-life-it-also-bestows-upon-it-a-silent/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-crime-and-the-criminal-it-is-true-confront-us-with-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It is like the distinction between war and peace: just as war takes place for the sake of peace, thus every kind of activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-is-like-the-distinction-between-war-and-peace-just-as-war-takes/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/every-end-in-history-necessarily-contains-a-new-beginning/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More Ability quotes > [I don't think there's a direct correlation between my sexuality and my skiing ability. But I think because I was so concerned about it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gus-kenworthy/i-don-t-think-there-s-a-direct-correlation-between-my-sexuality-and/) [Gus Kenworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gus-kenworthy/) > [“the importance of ability. The things that make a great job great, I discovered, are rare and valuable. 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Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-r-holland/) > [Maybe law enforcement would like the ability to turn on the camera on your Mac.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-cook/maybe-law-enforcement-would-like-the-ability-to-turn-on-the-camera-on/) [Tim Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-cook/) > [I've seen guys come along with more ability - they've been faster or bigger or stronger - but they never worked hard to develop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-largent/i-ve-seen-guys-come-along-with-more-ability-they-ve-been-faster-or/) [Steve Largent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-largent/) > [The youth of India has the strength to move the entire World with a click of a mouse, we have generated that ability!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/the-youth-of-india-has-the-strength-to-move-the-entire-world-with-a/) [Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/) > [Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine, Nor age so eat up my invention, Nor fortune made such havoc of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/time-hath-not-yet-so-dried-this-blood-of-mine-nor-age-so-eat-up-my/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irwin-shaw/an-absolutely-necessary-part-of-a-writer-s-equipment-almost-as/) [Irwin Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irwin-shaw/) > [I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. 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