Evil quotes
5.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside evil — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"A society like the Church, which claims to be Divine is perhaps more dangerous on account of the ersatz good which it contains then on account of the evil which sullies it. Something of the social labelled divine: an intoxicating mixture which carries with it every sort of license. Devil disguised."
"Evil is license, and that is why it is monotonous: everything has to be drawn from ourselves. One is condemned to false infinity. That is hell itself."
"There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before; The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound; What was good shall be good, with for evil so much good more; On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfect round."
"Society, that first of blessings, brings with it evils death only can cure."
"Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to."
"To live without evil belongs only to the gods."
"Yet I pity the poor wretch, though he's my enemy. He's yoked to an evil delusion, but the same fate could be mine. I see clearly: we who live are all phantoms, fleeing shadows."
"We should not speak of one that prospers well As happy, till his life have run its course, And reached its goal. An evil spirit's gift In shortest time has oft laid low the state Of one full rich in great prosperity, When the change comes, and so the Gods appoint."
"Ill-gotten gains work evil."
"Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot."
"The curse of ignorance is that man without being good or evil is nevertheless satisfied with himself"
"Evil counsel travels fast."
"Men whose wit has been mother of villainy once have learned from it to be evil in all things."
"As for his evil tidings, Belshazzar's overthrow, Why hurry to tell Belshazzar What soon enough he would know?"
"The world's oldest wisdom: each evil thought infuses the mind, sooner or later, with an unholy fear."
"Lo, how to conquer evil thoughts?Easy! One thing, just try -Imagine you are the ocean vast,You are the boundless sky."
"Transportation made sublimation literal. It conveyed evil to another world."
"It's not evil, Rand. I know something evil when I smell it. This isn't evil, it's just incredibly stupid."
"Kill a man who needs killing, and sometimes others pay for it. The question is, was it worth doing it anyway? There's always a balance, you know. Good and evil. Light and Shadow. We would not be human if there wasn't a balance."
"Democracy is threatened by the inertia of good people, by the selfishness of most people, and by the evil designs of a few people."
