Actions, Intentions

"We judge our selves by our intentions, we judge others by their actions."  Attributed to Ian Percy, but I heard this from Steven R. Covey

Also stated as:  "Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard-boiled egg." - Anonymous

This concept explains a lot about politics.  For example, how can folks who profess to have high standards (as all politicians and political commentators do) accept so many in their own party who behave so poorly?  You name the figure who's behaving badly (best example of all time, Senator Ted Kennedy, who behaved very, very poorly for a very, very long time), they often still enjoy the support of their constituents.  Why?  I think it is because we humans perceive these 'leaders' as 'us.'  "Our party", "my party", "my President", "my candidate".  Once we've allowed someone or some organization to become "ours", we judge him/her/them by our perception of their intentions, much like we judge ourselves.