And what people are trying to say is: that may be a bad thing, but it does not cancel out the good thing you did. You now did both a good and a bad thing. Not just a bad thing.<p>We try to judge people based on their actions. Someone messes up and defends themselves with &quot;I was only trying to help!&quot; - &quot;The road to hell is paved with good intentions.&quot;[0] The fact that proverb exists at all, means that our society has at least a partial inclination towards judging people on their actions, regardless of intention.<p>Well, if that applies in the &quot;mean good, do bad = bad&quot; case, then it should apply symmetrically in the &quot;mean bad, do good = good&quot; case.<p>Concretely: Bill Gates does some good. Someone says: he&#x27;s only doing it to atone. <i>So it doesn&#x27;t count.</i> --- the first part is not the problem, but the second part is. He still did good, and it still counts. Hate his character all you want, but he did good. Don&#x27;t use his character to detract from his actions.<p>[0] There&#x27;s even a Wikipedia page about it; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_road_to_hell_is_paved_with...</a>