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Topics/Morality

Quotes about good and evil

192 quotes from 117 people

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The good and the bad mix themselves so thoroughly in our thoughts, even in our aspirations, that we must look for excellence rather in overcoming evil than in freeing ourselves from its influence.
Anthony Trollope1815–1882He Knew He Was Right (1869), Ch. 60
We don’t want apartheid liberalized. We want it dismantled. You can’t improve something that is intrinsically evil.
Desmond Tutu1931–2021Speech (1985) as quoted in Equality, Volume 1, Issue 1 (1989)
- Race
Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.
Mark Twain1835–1910Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Chapter XXXIIIIn context
He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.
Leonardo da Vinci1452–1519XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.
Kurt Vonnegut1922–2007The Sirens of Titan (1959), Chapter 7 “Victory” (p. 165; epigram)
The most important message of a crucifix, to me anyway, was how unspeakably cruel supposedly sane human beings can be when under orders from a superior authority.
Kurt Vonnegut1922–2007Hocus Pocus (1990)
- Christianity
When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before.
Mae West1893–1980
When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad, I’m better.
Mae West1893–1980I’m No Angel (1933)
- Comedy
Roaming in thought over the Universe, I saw the little that is Good steadily hastening towards immortality,
And the vast that is evil I saw hastening to merge itself and become lost and dead.
Walt Whitman1819–1892Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Roaming in Thought, 1
I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Elie Wiesel1928–2016Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo (10 December 1986)
- Justice
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
W. B. Yeats1865–1939The Second Coming (1920)In context
- Character
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
W. B. Yeats1865–1939The Second Coming (1920)In context
- Religion