Evil quotes

Evil

5.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

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Evil quotes (page 4 of 265)

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Hannah Arendt Philosopher, Political Theorist
Evil

"It is indeed my opinion now that evil is never “radical,” that it is only extreme, and that it possess neither depth nor any demonic dimension. It can overgrow and lay waste the whole world precisely because it spreads like fungus on the surface. It is “thought-defying,” as I said, because thought tries to reach some depth, to go to the roots, and the moment it concerns itself with evil, it is frustrated because there is nothing. That is its “banality.” Only the good has depth and can be radical."

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Desmond Tutu Theologian, Activist
Evil

"As much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression, and injustice, the world has an even greateer instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth, freedom and love."

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John Calvin Theologian, Reformer
Evil

"The Lord has not redeemed you so you might enjoy pleasures and luxuries or so that you might abandon yourself to ease and indolence, but rather so you should be prepared to endure all sorts of evils."

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Saul Bellow Novelist
Evil

"There are evils that have the ability to survive identification and go on for ever... money, for instance, or war."

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J. R. R. Tolkien Novelist, Scholar
Evil

"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."

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Alice Miller Psychologist, Author
Evil

"It is not true that evil, destructiveness , and perversion inevitably form part of human existence, no matter how often this is maintained. But it is true that we are daily producing more evil and, with it, an ocean of suffering for millions that is absolutely avoidable. When one day the ignorance arising from childhood repression is eliminated and humanity has awakened, an end can be put to this production of evil."

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Socrates Philosopher
Evil

"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance."

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John Stuart Mill Philosopher, Political Economist
Evil

"We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still."

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Plato Philosopher
Evil

"There should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor again excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil."

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Khalil Gibran Poet, Writer
Evil

"He who does not see the angels and devils in the beauty and malice of life will be far removed from knowledge, and his spirit will be empty of affection."

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C. S. Lewis Writer, Scholar
Evil

"If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."

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Armstrong Williams Political Commentator
Evil

"At some point we must make a decision not to allow the mere threat of charges of cultural or religious insensitivity to stop us from dealing with this evil"

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Rand Paul Politician
Evil

"The Founders never intended for Americans to trust their government. Our entire Constitution was predicated on the notion that government was a necessary evil, to be restrained and minimized as much as possible."

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