Quotes about Evil

A collection of quotes on the topic of evil.

„First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. It is impossible even to begin the act of loving one's enemies without prior acceptance of the necessity, over and over again, of forgiving those who inflict evil and injury upon us. It is also necessary to realize that the forgiving act must always be initiated by the person who has been wronged, the victim of some great hurt, the recipient of some tortuous injustice, the absorber of some terrible act of oppression.“

— Martin Luther King, Jr. American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement 1929 - 1968

1950s, Loving Your Enemies (Christmas 1957)
Context: First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. It is impossible even to begin the act of loving one's enemies without prior acceptance of the necessity, over and over again, of forgiving those who inflict evil and injury upon us. It is also necessary to realize that the forgiving act must always be initiated by the person who has been wronged, the victim of some great hurt, the recipient of some tortuous injustice, the absorber of some terrible act of oppression. The wrongdoer may request forgiveness. He may come to himself, and, like the prodigal son, move up with some dusty road, his heart palpitating with the desire for forgiveness. But only the injured neighbor, the loving father back home can really pour out the warm waters of forgiveness.

Personality, Hurt, Forgiveness, Love

„God will not punish, or put the blame upon the innocent, nor allow the criminals to go free without paying the price of their evil deeds.“

— Mwanandeke Kindembo 1996

God

„The world turns and the world changes,
But one thing does not change.
In all of my years, one thing does not change,
However you disguise it, this thing does not change:
The perpetual struggle of Good and Evil.“

— T.S. Eliot 20th century English author 1888 - 1965

Choruses from The Rock (1934)

Change, World

„The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them;
It is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself.“

— Molière, The Misanthrope

Plus on aime quelqu'un, moins il faut qu'on le flatte:
À rien pardonner le pur amour éclate.
Act II, sc. iv
Le Misanthrope (1666)

Love

„All language is but a poor translation.“

— Franz Kafka author 1883 - 1924

„Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance, what Buddha called 'the greatest evil in the world.' The friction which results from ignorance… can be reduced only by the spread of knowledge and the unification of the heterogeneous elements of humanity. No effort could be better spent.“

— Nikola Tesla Serbian American inventor 1856 - 1943

"The Problem of Increasing Human Energy", The Century (Jun 1900), 211. Collected in The Century (1900), Vol. 60, 211

Effort, Knowledge, World

„Look, when you realize how fake it all is; the football, the basketball, the Lady Gaga, the Justin Bieber—you know, who gives you these carbon tax messages. They tell your kids they gotta love Justin Biebler [sic], and then Biebler [sic] says "hand in your guns", "pass the Cyber Security Act", and "the police state is good", and then your children are turned into a mindless vassals—who now, they look up to some twit, instead of looking up to Thomas Jefferson, or looking up to Nikola Tesla, or looking up to Magellan; I mean, kids, Magellan is a lot cooler than Justin Bieber! He circumnavigated with one ship the entire planet! He was killed by wild natives before they got back to Portugal! And when they got back there was only like eleven people alive of the two hundred and something crew and the entire ship was rotting down to the waterline! That's destiny! That's will! That's striving! That's being a trailblazer and explore! Going into space! Mathematics! Quantum mechanics! The secrets of the universe! It's all there! Life is fiery with its beauty! Its incredible detail! Tuning into it! They wanna shutter your mind, talking about Justin Bieber! It's pure evil! They're taking your intellect, your soul, and giving you Michael Jordan and Bieber. Unlock your human potential! Defeat the globalists who wanna shutter your mind!—Your doorways to perception!—I wanna see you truly live! I wanna see you truly be who you are!“

— Alex Jones American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker 1974

Alex Jones: The "Justin Biebler" Rant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDMB0KyhPN8, 21 February 2011.
2011

Football, Universe, Mathematics, Soul

„For the gospel proclaims that God is with us now, actively fighting the forces which would make man captive. And it is the task of theology and the Church to know where God is at work so that we can join him in this fight against evil. In America we know where the evil is. We know that men are shot and lynched. We know that men are crammed into ghettos…. There is a constant battle between Christ and Satan, and it is going on now. If we make this message contemporaneous with our own life situation, what does Christ's defeat of Satan mean for us?… The demonic forces of racism are real for the black man. Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man "the devil." The white structure of this American society, personified in every racist, must be at least part of what the New Testament meant by the demonic forces.“

— James H. Cone American theologian 1938 - 2018

Source: Black Theology and Black Power (1969), pp. 39-41

Parting, Fight, Christ, God

„Be grateful for every outcome, those you consider to be good or evil, and happiness should become your motto in life.“

— Mwanandeke Kindembo 1996

Happiness, Life

„To be alone is the fate of all great minds—a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils.“

— Arthur Schopenhauer German philosopher 1788 - 1860

Time, Fate

„I’m not mad. I’m in a perfectly happy mood, you asshole.“

— Kurt Cobain American musician and artist 1967 - 1994

Happiness, Madness, Mood

„Definition of Good and Evil: Good is what you like. Evil is what you don't like.“

— Anton LaVey, book The Devil's Notebook

The Devil's Notebook (1992)

„Evil is mostly confusion seeking to evolve itself into love.“

— Aberjhani author 1957

(Fulton Street/The Series, p. 80).
Book Sources, ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love (2008)

Love

„The right way to requite evil, according to Jesus, is not to resist it. This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law.“

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi 1906 - 1945

Source: Discipleship (1937), Revenge, p. 141.
Context: The right way to requite evil, according to Jesus, is not to resist it. This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law. The Church is not to be a national community like the old Israel, but a community of believers without political or national ties. The old Israel had been both — the chosen people of God and a national community, and it was therefore his will that they should meet force with force. But with the Church it is different: it has abandoned political and national status, and therefore it must patiently endure aggression. Otherwise evil will be heaped upon evil. Only thus can fellowship be established and maintained.
At this point it becomes evident that when a Christian meets with injustice, he no longer clings to his rights and defends them at all costs. He is absolutely free from possessions and bound to Christ alone. Again, his witness to this exclusive adherence to Jesus creates the only workable basis for fellowship, and leaves the aggressor for him to deal with.
The only way to overcome evil is to let it run itself to a stand-still because it does not find the resistance it is looking for. Resistance merely creates further evil and adds fuel to the flames. But when evil meets no opposition and encounters no obstacle but only patient endurance, its sting is drawn, and at last it meets an opponent which is more than its match. Of course this can only happen when the last ounce of resistance is abandoned, and the renunciation of revenge is complete. Then evil cannot find its mark, it can breed no further evil, and is left barren.

Christ, Way, Law

„Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full.“

— Leon Trotsky Marxist revolutionary from Russia 1879 - 1940

Trotsky's Testament (1940)
Context: Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full.

Future, Beauty, Life

„To govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong.“

— Han Fei Chinese philosopher -279 - -232 BC

from "Having Regulations—A Memorandum" in The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, Volume I, Arthur Probsthain, London, 1939. Translated by W.K. Liao.

Law

„I see the triumph of good over evil as a manifestation of the error-correcting process of evolution.“

— Jonas Salk Inventor of polio vaccine 1914 - 1995

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)
Context: I judge things from an evolutionary perspective — "How does this serve and contribute to the process of our own evolution?" — rather than think of good and evil in moral terms. I see the triumph of good over evil as a manifestation of the error-correcting process of evolution.

Error