“Fear of evil is greater than the evil itself.”
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, Writer and Author
Sono maggiori li spaventi ch'e mali.
Act III, scene xi
The Mandrake (1524)
“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.”
— Frédéric Bastiat, book The Law
The Law (1850)
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Frédéric Bastiat33
French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and… 1801–1850Related quotes
“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)
“Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.”
Barbara Kingsolver (1955) American author, poet and essayist
Source: Homeland and Other Stories
“Deeper and deeper. Ever greater power. Ever greater evil.”
Michael Shea book Nifft the Lean
Part 3, Chapter 12 (p. 181)
Nifft the Lean (1982)
“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)
“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law.”
Montesquieu (1689–1755) French social commentator and political thinker
As quoted in With Prejudice : The Perspective of an Acquitted Defendent (2010) by Vicky Gallas; no earlier occurence of this phrasing has been located (Relevant quote: "Il n’y a point de plus cruelle tyrannie que celle que l’on exerce à l’ombre des lois et avec les couleurs de la justice" i.e. "There is no tyranny more cruel than that which is exercised within the shade of the law and with the colours of justice." See Chap. XIV of Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence).
Disputed
“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.
Basava (1134–1196) a 12th-century Hindu philosopher, statesman, Kannada Bhakti poet of Lingayatism
Basavanna's Preachings