They make bad and dangerous decisions that compound their problems, albeit often for decent motives.
But like so many street-raised kids, he's simultaneously likable and repellent; being driven by what he considers decent motives hardly makes him decent.
Acknowledging and tackling people's fears about the impact of a rising population does not have to be accompanied by an implied attack on the individuals who have come here and are still coming here legally, and with very decent motives.
It's hard not to see the last couple of weeks as a tragedy for Mr. Snowden — who seems to have started down this road with decent motives and is now looking at life as an exile or in prison — as well as a huge self-inflicted wound for the American intelligence community.
She told Judge Jonathan Teale: "Their honourable and decent motives perhaps might be contrasted with what we now know about the long-term deployment of undercover police officers, one of whom acted on the 'extreme boundary of legality', if not decency, if the reports of agitation and so on across Europe are to be believed.
Iain Duncan Smith's claim that escape from the EU would be "a stride into the light" may not persuade you but it suggests decent, progressive motives.
Still, Google's motives seem decent, he said.
Anyway, it is now generally conceded that under David Cameron's leadership, the Conservatives are at least a decent party with noble motives which include seeking to enrich the poorest in society.
The core challenge facing Cameron and, more particularly, the successor who will lead the Tories into the 2020 election (identity tba) is a persuasive task: to convince a sufficiency of voters that fiscal realism and compassion are compatible, that Conservative motives are decent, and that the party truly represents the whole nation.
For all Jay Z's caring motives about securing decent rates of remuneration for musicians, something about that event sent out the wrong message, and within 12 months Bloomberg news was reporting that Tidal had less than a million users, compared with Spotify's 75 million, and was wondering: "Why Jay Z's Tidal Is a Complete Disaster".
