He acted from expediency, not from principle. 他为求达到目的, 丧失了原则.
The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. 真正危险的时候是那些为了权宜之计,将自由逐渐的、块的蚕食的时候。
expedience
[ noun ]
the quality of being suited to the end in view
<noun.attribute>
taking advantage of opportunities without regard for the consequences for others
<noun.attribute>
Expedience \Ex*pe"di*ence\, Expediency \Ex*pe"di*en*cy\,, n. 1. The quality of being expedient or advantageous; fitness or suitableness to effect a purpose intended; adaptedness to self-interest; desirableness; advantage; advisability; -- sometimes contradistinguished from {moral rectitude} or {principle}.
Divine wisdom discovers no expediency in vice. --Cogan.
To determine concerning the expedience of action. --Sharp.
Much declamation may be heard in the present day against expediency, as if it were not the proper object of a deliberative assembly, and as if it were only pursued by the unprincipled. --Whately.
2. Expedition; haste; dispatch. [Obs.]
Making hither with all due expedience. --Shak.
3. An expedition; enterprise; adventure. [Obs.]
Forwarding this dear expedience. --Shak.
The spokesman said the former governor issued the order for "political expedience and to get national attention and to appeal to a particular segment of the population."
Investment bankers often mouth platitudes about 'free market' discipline, but when a large private company in which they hold equity stakes fails, these same bankers fall back upon the political expedience of corporate statism.
But if this were a closed society, the expedience of the cutbacks wouldn't be so obvious.