
“Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.”
Source: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, p. 68.
The Late Forties and the Fifties, 1956 entry.
The Journals of John Cheever (1991)
“Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.”
Source: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, p. 68.
The Serpent, in Pt. V
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)
“The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.”
“Welt muss mehr denn je diese Botschaft hören,” Giessener Allgemeine Zeitung, Giessen, Germany, April 12, 2005.
Attributed
“The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule, between good and evil but between two evils.”
"No, Not One," The Adelphi (October 1941), p. 7 http://books.google.com/books?id=hdwYAQAAIAAJ&q=%22The+choice+before+human+beings%22&pg=PA7#v=onepage- 8 http://books.google.com/books?id=hdwYAQAAIAAJ&q=%22is+not+as+a+rule+between+good+and+evil+but+between+two+evils%22&pg=PA8#v=onepage
Context: The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule, between good and evil but between two evils. You can let the Nazis rule the world: that is evil; or you can overthrow them by war, which is also evil. There is no other choice before you, and whichever you choose you will not come out with clean hands.