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Topics/Morality

Quotes about good and evil

192 quotes from 117 people

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My name is Legion: for we are many.
The Bible (King James Version)The Gospel of Mark (1611), Mark 5:9 (KJV)In context
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The Bible (King James Version)The Gospel of John (1611), John 1:4–5 (KJV)In context
- God
There can be no Good Will. Will is always Evil; it is persecution to others or selfishness.
William Blake1757–1827Annotations to Swedenborg (1788)
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
William Blake1757–1827The Tyger (1794)In context
- God
The right way to requite evil, according to Jesus, is not to resist it. This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer1906–1945The Cost of Discipleship (1937), “Revenge”, p. 141
- Christianity
- Politics
Patient endurance of evil does not mean a recognition of its rights. That is sheer sentimentality, and Jesus will have nothing to do with it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer1906–1945The Cost of Discipleship (1937), “Revenge”, p. 142
- Christianity
The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer1906–1945“After Ten Years” (Christmas 1942), in Letters and Papers from Prison
- Morality
Jesus is no draughtsman of political blueprints, he is the one who vanquished evil through suffering. It looked as though evil had triumphed on the cross, but the real victory belonged to Jesus.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer1906–1945The Cost of Discipleship (1937), “Revenge”, p. 142
- Christianity
Feel no sadness because of evil thoughts: it only strengthens them.
NBNachman of Bratslav
- Thinking
Life⁠—the way it really is⁠—is a battle not between bad and good but between bad and worse.
Joseph Brodsky1940–1996
The surest defense against Evil is extreme individualism, originality of thinking, whimsicality, even — if you will — eccentricity.
Joseph Brodsky1940–1996“A Commencement Address” (1984), delivered at Williams College; As quoted in: Robert Inchausti (2014) Thinking through Thomas Merton. p. 110
- Thinking
It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Gautama Buddha501–501 BC
To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind yourself, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.
Gautama Buddha501–501 BCDhammapada, Ch. 14, Verse 183
All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke1729–1797
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770), Volume i, p. 526