The face of evil is always the face of total need.
—William S. Burroughs (1914–97) American Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, Painter
Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other ones invariably slink in after it.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
The usual choice is not between the good and the bad but between the bad and the worse.
—French Proverb
There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil.
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846) English Painter, Writer
Whoever takes it upon himself to establish a commonwealth and prescribe laws must presuppose all men naturally bad, and that they will yield to their innate evil passions as often as they can do so with safety.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
There is no sort of wrong deed of which a man can bear the punishment alone; you can’t isolate yourself and say that the evil that is in you shall not spread. Men’s lives are as thoroughly blended with each other as the air they breathe; evil spreads as necessarily as disease.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The devil doesn’t know how to sing, only how to howl.
—Francis Thompson (1859–1907) English Poet, Ascetic
The devil is the author of confusion.
—Robert Burton (1577–1640) English Scholar, Clergyman
Crime in the city streets is more than a political issue. It’s a too rampant fact…. In Indianapolis they have come up with a most sensible, affordable approach to the problem. Policemen are assigned their police patrol cars for personal use after hours. They are encouraged to use the police car while taking the family shopping, to the movies, and everywhere one takes one’s family. As a result, says the Police Chief’s assistant, we may have as many as 400 cars on the street instead of 100 or so per shift. (And) the presence of the police car obviously indicates the proximity of policemen.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.-
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
There must always remain something that is antagonistic to good.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
There are evils that have the ability to survive identification and go on for ever… money, for instance, or war.
—Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-American Novelist
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
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The first lesson of history is that evil is good.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Many have puzzled themselves about the origin of evil. I am content to observe that there is evil, and that there is a way to escape from it, and with this I begin and end.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
We often do good in order that we may do evil with impunity.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
God bears with the wicked, but not forever.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm travelers on their road.—Both appear great at a distance, but when we approach them we find they are far less insurmountable than we had conceived.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from their house.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Evil is nourished and grows by concealment.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
Try to understand that there is more thoughtlessness than malice in the world. People are not out to offend you deliberately and maliciously. But all of us are thoughtless at times and do not readily realize that our words and actions are going to hurt people.
—Lawrence G. Lovasik
I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still and quiet in a room alone.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
The first idea that the child must acquire, in order to be actively disciplined, is that of the difference between good and evil; and the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity.
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
Must I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
The man who does evil to another does evil to himself, and the evil counsel is most evil for him who counsels it.
—Hesiod (f.700 BCE) Greek Poet
If the devil could be persuaded to write a bible, he would title it, “You Only Live Once.”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Of two evils, it is always best to vote for the least hypocritical.
—U.S. Proverb
It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
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