Leading Christian theologians such as Augustine and Aquinas were not what today might be called 'strict constructionists.' Rather, they celebrated reason as the means to gain greater insight into divine intentions.
I think that Bob Dylan knows this more than all of us: you don't write the songs anyhow. So if you're lucky, you can keep the vehicle healthy and responsive over the years. If you're lucky, your own intentions have very little to do with this.
I'll tell you, there's no goodies and baddies in the world, there's just people with intentions that sometimes clash.
Good intentions aren't enough. People have good intentions when they set a goal to do something, but then they miss a deadline or other milestone.
The people in the well-ordered ages of the past upheld the public law and abandoned private strategies; they focused their intentions and unified their conduct. Everything they did was for the sake of being employed by the ruler.
I don't think I threw myself into music because I had the best intentions; it was because I was really angry.
The most important thing, to me is the intention of where things come from, like, why did you use it? What were the intentions of what you did? And if the intention is good, the intention is pure, then everything will turn out good.
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
