Non enim rei effectus, sed efficientis affectus in crimine est. Nec qu× fiunt, sed quo animo fiunt, ×quitus pensat. Crime liesnot inthe deed, but inthe doer'sintention: it is not what was done, but the spirit in which it was done that justice should consider.

-He¤  lo|«  se
c.1135  First letter to Peter  Abelard.

   I sought out quaint words, and trim invention; My thoughts began to burnish, sprout, and swell, Curling with metaphors a plain intention, Decking the sense, as if it were to sell.

-Herbert, George
'Jordan (2)', collected in The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (published posthumously,1633).

I have no intention of rearranging the furniture on the deck of theTitanic.

-Morton, Rogers Clark Ballard
  On declining to rescue President Ford's disastrous election campaign.

Uneasily the leaves fall at this season, forgetting what to do or where to go; the red amnesiacs of autumn drifting thru the graveyard forest. What they have forgotten they have forgotten: what they meant to do instead of fall is not in earth or time recoverableö the fossils of intention, the shapes of rot.

-Purdy, Al
  Poems forAll theAnnettes,'Pause' (revised1968).

Every individual†intends only his own gain, and he is in this as in many other cases led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention† By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the publick good.

-Smith, Adam
  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of theWealth of Nations, bk.4, ch.3.

Why is itthat girls so constantlydothis, so frequentlyask men who have loved them to be present at their marriages with other men? There is no triumph in it. It is done in sheer kindness and affection. They intend to offer something whichshall softenand not aggravatethe sorrow that they have caused† I fully appreciate the intention, but in honest truth,I doubt the eligibility of the proffered entertainment.

-Trollope, Anthony
  John Eames.The Small House at Allington, ch.9.