About this quote

Each pairing names a pursuit cut loose from the thing that should anchor it — power from principle, profit from morality, learning from character. Strip any of them of that counterweight and it doesn't merely go neutral; it curdles into something that harms the very people it claims to serve.

When to use it

• A startup that ships a product it knows is unsafe because the quarterly numbers look great.
• A brilliant student who aces every exam while cheating classmates out of shared credit.
• A campaign winning votes on promises it never intends to keep.