“Of what use to destroy the children of evil? It is evil itself we must destroy at the roots.”
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Part Troll (2004)
“Of what use to destroy the children of evil? It is evil itself we must destroy at the roots.”
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
“A good End cannot sanctifie evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it.”
William Penn (1644–1718) English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania
537-539
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
Context: A good End cannot sanctifie evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it. Some Folks think they may Scold, Rail, Hate, Rob and Kill too; so it be but for God's sake. But nothing in us unlike him, can please him.
“We must not only resist, but boldly attack prevailing evils.”
John Calvin book Institutes of the Christian Religion
Prefatory Address, p. 23
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; 1559)
“We must as second best, as people say, take the least of the evils.”
Aristotle book Nicomachean Ethics
Book II, 1109a.34 (cf. Nicomachean Ethics, 1131b: ἔστι γὰρ τὸ ἔλαττον κακὸν μᾶλλον αἱρετὸν τοῦ μείζονος [the lesser of two evils is more desirable than the greater])
Nicomachean Ethics
“Evil must not be countered with another evil but, rather, repelled by an act of goodness.”
Mohammed Alkobaisi (1970) Iraqi Islamic scholar
Understanding Islam, "Morals and Ethics" http://vod.dmi.ae/media/96716/Ep_03_Morals_and_Ethics Dubai Media
Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist
As quoted in Margaret Mead : Some Personal Views (1979) edited by Rhoda Métraux
As quoted in American Quotations (1992) by Gorton Carruth and Eugene H. Ehrlich
1970s
Variant: At times it may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good.
Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet (1807–1886) colonial administrator and historian
Charles Trevelyan, head of administration for famine relief during the Great Irish famine In: McCourt, John (19 March 2015). "Writing the Frontier: Anthony Trollope between Britain and Ireland". OUP Oxford.
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician
http://www.baen.com/library/palaver4.htm
Attributed