Let me give you the definition of ethics: it is good to maintain life and to further life. It is bad to damage and destroy life. And this ethic, profound and universal, has the significance of a religion. It is religion.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Philosopher, Musician, Physician
It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
Men are slower to recognize blessings than evils.
—Livy (Titus Livius) (59 BCE–17 CE) Roman Historian
Every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor.—As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Evil is always possible. Goodness is a difficulty.
—Anne Rice (1941–2021) American Author
Evil spelled backward is live.
—Anonymous
The “Spirit of Evil “entices a man in this world, and testifies against him in the next.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
It is a statistical fact that the wicked work harder to reach hell than the righteous do to enter heaven.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
The devil has the power to assume a pleasing shape.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The best known evil is the most tolerable.
—Livy (Titus Livius) (59 BCE–17 CE) Roman Historian
When bad men combine, the good must associate, else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The devil’s most devilish when respectable.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
Restraining prayer, we cease to fight; Prayer keeps the Christian’s armor bright; And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.
—Max Lerner (1902–92) American Journalist, Educator, Author
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
All histories do show, and wise politicians do hold it necessary that, for the well-governing of every Commonweal, it behoveth man to presuppose that all men are evil, and will declare themselves so to be when occasion is offered.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
Those that set in motion the forces of evil cannot always control them afterwards.
—Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) American Novelist, Activist, Essayist
Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil from the spirit of man.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together; our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is safest to be moderately base—to be flexible in shame, and to be always ready for what is generous, good and just, when anything is to be gained by virtue.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
Evil is uncertain in the same degree as good, and for the reason that we ought not to hope too securely, we ought not to fear with too much dejection.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A church debt is the devil’s salary.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good… Ideology – that is what gives devildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others’ eyes, so that he won’t hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
Combinations of wickedness would overwhelm the world, by the advantage which licentious principles afford, did not those who have long practised perfidy grow faithless to each other.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
We often do good in order that we may do evil with impunity.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
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