„Definition of Good and Evil: Good is what you like. Evil is what you don't like.“
— Anton LaVey Founder of the Church of Satan, author of the Satanic Bible 1930 - 1997
Quotes about Evil
A collection of quotes on the topic of evil.
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„False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.“
— Socrates classical Greek Athenian philosopher -469 - -399 BC
Phaedo 115e
literally: 'For know well', he said, 'o dearest Kriton, that to not speak well is not only sinful by itself, but lets evil intrude into the soul.'(εὖ γὰρ ἴσθι, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, ὦ ἄριστε Κρίτων, τὸ μὴ καλῶς λέγειν οὐ μόνον εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο πλημμελές, ἀλλὰ καὶ κακόν τι ἐμποιεῖ ταῖς ψυχαῖς.)
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„No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves.“
— Epicurus ancient Greek philosopher -342 - -270 BC
Context: No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves. (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.
„To send a political activist to an asylum is more sadistic and evil than killing him.“
— Anders Behring Breivik Norwegian mass murderer 1979
In an open letter sent to several newspapers in Norway shortly before the announcement by the second team of court-appointed psychiatrists on their findings of him not having been psychotic when he perpetrated the attacks. Global Post (10 April 2012) http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/120410/norway-killer-anders-behring-breivik-declared-sane
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„Perhaps, the good and the beautiful are the same, and must be investigated by one and the same process; and in like manner the base and the evil.“
— Plotinus Neoplatonist philosopher 203 - 270
Context: Perhaps, the good and the beautiful are the same, and must be investigated by one and the same process; and in like manner the base and the evil. And in the first rank we must place the beautiful, and consider it as the same with the good; from which immediately emanates intellect as beautiful. Next to this, we must consider the soul receiving its beauty from intellect, and every inferior beauty deriving its origin from the forming power of the soul, whether conversant in fair actions and offices, or sciences and arts. Lastly, bodies themselves participate of beauty from the soul, which, as something divine, and a portion of the beautiful itself, renders whatever it supervenes and subdues, beautiful as far as its natural capacity will admit.
Let us, therefore, re-ascend to the good itself, which every soul desires; and in which it can alone find perfect repose. For if anyone shall become acquainted with this source of beauty he will then know what I say, and after what manner he is beautiful. Indeed, whatever is desirable is a kind of good, since to this desire tends. But they alone pursue true good, who rise to intelligible beauty, and so far only tend to good itself; as far as they lay aside the deformed vestments of matter, with which they become connected in their descent. Just as those who penetrate into the holy retreats of sacred mysteries, are first purified and then divest themselves of their garments, until someone by such a process, having dismissed everything foreign from the God, by himself alone, beholds the solitary principle of the universe, sincere, simple and pure, from which all things depend, and to whose transcendent perfections the eyes of all intelligent natures are directed, as the proper cause of being, life and intelligence. With what ardent love, with what strong desire will he who enjoys this transporting vision be inflamed while vehemently affecting to become one with this supreme beauty! For this it is ordained, that he who does not yet perceive him, yet desires him as good, but he who enjoys the vision is enraptured with his beauty, and is equally filled with admiration and delight. Hence, such a one is agitated with a salutary astonishment; is affected with the highest and truest love; derides vehement affections and inferior loves, and despises the beauty which he once approved. Such, too, is the condition of those who, on perceiving the forms of gods or daemons, no longer esteem the fairest of corporeal forms. What, then, must be the condition of that being, who beholds the beautiful itself?
„What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared?“
— Mikhail Bulgakov Russian author primarily known for his novel "Master and Margarita" 1891 - 1940
„Perched up high on a rooftop,
like a bird I'm having evil thoughts,
A black hood covers my face
as death flows through my mind at its own pace.“
— Eazy-E American rapper and producer 1963 - 1995
"Neighborhood Sniper", 5150: Home 4 tha Sick (1992).
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„The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages. As a precaution to ever committing major acts of evil it is our solemn duty never to do what we're told, this is the only way we can be sure.“
— Banksy, Wall and Piece
„Civilization is a hopeless race to discover remedies for the evils it produces.“
— Jean Jacques Rousseau Genevan philosopher 1712 - 1778
„If there were just one possibility—either to do the good or to combat evil—man would have to opt for the first.“
— Adrienne von Speyr Swiss doctor and mystic 1902 - 1967
p. 36
„But since the Modernists (as they are commonly and rightly called) employ a very clever artifice, namely, to present their doctrines without order and systematic arrangement into one whole, scattered and disjointed one from another, so as to appear to be in doubt and uncertainty, while they are in reality firm and steadfast, it will be of advantage, Venerable Brethren, to bring their teachings together here into one group, and to point out the connexion between them, and thus to pass to an examination of the sources of the errors, and to prescribe remedies for averting the evil.“
— Pope Pius X Catholic Pope and saint 1835 - 1914
Papal encyclical letter "Pascendi dominici gregis" ("Feeding the Lord's Flock") promulgated by Pope Pius X on 8 September 1907.
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„I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.“
— Marie Curie French-Polish physicist and chemist 1867 - 1934
As quoted in White Coat Tales : Medicine's Heroes, Heritage and Misadventures (2007) by Robert B. Taylor, p. 141. The original Source is the last sentence of https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/pierre-curie-lecture.pdf
„As a musician I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note.“
— Georges Bizet French composer 1838 - 1875
Letter to Edmond Galabert, and G. (October 1866), as quoted in Letters of Composers: An Anthology, 1603-1945 (1946) edited by Gertrude Norman and Miriam Lubell Shrifte, p. 241
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„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
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.
„Learning is to a man as the leaves and branches are to a tree, and it can be said that he should not be without it. Learning is not only reading books, however, but is rather something that we study to integrate with our own way of life.
One who is born into the house of a warrior, regardless of his rank or class, first acquaints himself with a man of military feats and achievements in loyalty, and, listening to just one of his dictums each day, will in a month know 30 precepts. Needless to say, if in a year he learns 300 precepts, at the end of that time he will be much the better.
Thus, a man can divide his mind into three parts: he should throw out those thoughts that are evil, take up those ideas that are good, and become intimate with his own wisdom… I would honor and call wise the man who penetrates this principle, though he lacks the knowledge of a single Chinese character. As for those who are learned in other matters, I would avoid them regardless of how deep their knowledge might be. That is how shallow and untalented this monk is.“
— Takeda Shingen Japanese daimyo of the Sengoku period 1521 - 1573
William Scott Wilson, Gregory Lee. Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors, 1982. p 95