"The end" means the "end result" of something.
"The means" are the "methods" used in order to get that result.
So in other words, "the end justifies the means" is said when "something must be done, no matter what the cost." We say this when we are doing something bad or immoral for a good cause.
We also use the phrase "it's for the greater good" in similar situations.
The 'ends' here means some goal or objective to achieve.
The 'means' mean the method used to achieve the objective.
This is generally interpreted to mean achievement of a desired objective justifies the method used to achieve it.
For example:
Alice got money for the hungry by stealing it from the firm where she works . "The end justifies the means," she told herself.
Of course, this is a very controversial saying ! :-) But it all depends on what you think is important in life and if you think HOW you do something is just as important as WHAT you do.
consider you have study hard but still you have failed in examunation. And someone else has not study but he managed to get a high mark. can you see the difference ? no one care about the effirt made earlier, they just look at the result.
I wouldn't say that it is used when doing something immoral or bad. It is that some people who would be affected by it, might not like it.
Or how you achieve a goal might not be seen as great, such as "I starved myself for a week to fit into my dress. My parents don't like that I took such measures, but the ends justify the means"
It seems that there is no way to reply to the answers...
I happened to read the idiom. It is translated as "只要目的正当，可以不择手段" in Chinese, whose literal meaning is "if the goal is for justice, you can do anything to achieve it". I disagree with it at the first sight. But what if there are some exceptions? So I wonder why people say like that.
From my perspective, some answers and their examples given above set "the ends" as goals being for injustice. But what is justice after all? When it is fair for one person, it may be not for another. Several years ago I watched some of Harvard open courses named "justice" which have some explanations about this complex theme.
The answers given convey that ordinarily the saying was just a bad excuse when people quoted it, after they do something bad or on the occations when how one achieve a goal might not be seen as great, as explained above.
I approve of their standpoints abosolutely and I would like to express my thanks to them.
09:35 am ( SGT) 05/29/2016
