“Fear of evil is greater than the evil itself.”
Sono maggiori li spaventi ch'e mali.
Act III, scene xi
The Mandrake (1524)
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Niccolo Machiavelli130
Italian politician, Writer and Author 1469–1527Related quotes
Epicurus (-341–-269 BC) ancient Greek philosopher
8
Variant translation: No pleasure is itself a bad thing, but the things that produce some kinds of pleasure, bring along with them unpleasantness that is much greater than the pleasure itself.
Sovereign Maxims
“In every enterprise is no greater evil than bad companionship”
Aeschylus (-525–-456 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
ἐν παντὶ πράγει δ᾽ ἔσθ᾽ ὁμιλίας κακῆς
κάκιον οὐδέν
Source: Seven Against Thebes (467 BC), lines 599–600 (tr. David Grene)
“There is no greater social evil than religion. It is the cancer in the body of humanity.”
A. C. Grayling (1949) English philosopher
Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 9, “Evil” (p. 34)
“There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.”
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
Plato, Phaedo
“We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune.”
François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Il faut de plus grandes vertus pour soutenir la bonne fortune que la mauvaise.
Maxim 25.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
“I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race”
Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate general in the Civil War
Letter to his wife, Mary Anne Lee http://www.fair-use.org/robert-e-lee/letter-to-his-wife-on-slavery (27 December 1856) <br class="br">1850s <br class="br">Context: In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence.
“To remain silent in the face of evil is itself a form of evil.”
Sue Monk Kidd (1948) Novelist
Source: The Invention of Wings
Robert Barr (writer) (1849–1912) Scottish-Canadian novelist
"The Mystery of the Five Hundred Diamonds," from The Triumphs of Euguene Valmont (1906)