It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.

The saying frames moral responsibility as extending beyond overt actions to include omissions—failures to intervene, speak, or act when duty or conscience calls. It implies that ethical life is not merely avoiding wrongdoing but also actively choosing the good; passivity can be culpable when it enables harm or neglects obligations. Read this way, the line anticipates later discussions of “sins of omission” and civic responsibility: a person may be judged not only by what they cause, but by what they allow through inaction. As a maxim, it functions as a prompt toward vigilance and agency, insisting that character is revealed as much in neglected duties as in performed deeds.