„You can’t make a good deal with a bad person.“

„In Matthew 12:23 Christ says: “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad and its fruit bad,” as if to say: “Let the one who wishes to have good fruit begin by planting a good tree.” Therefore, let the person who wishes to do good works being not with the works but with the believing, for this alone makes a person good.“

—  Martin Luther seminal figure in Protestant Reformation 1483 - 1546

Source: The Freedom of a Christian (1520), p. 76

„This Divine Seed is in every person good or bad.“

—  Rufus M. Jones American writer 1863 - 1948

Social Law in the Spiritual World (1904)
Context: The Inner Light is the doctrine that there is something Divine, "something of God," in the human soul.
Five words are used indiscriminately to name this Divine something: "The Light," "The Seed," "Christ within," "The Spirit," "That of God in you." This Divine Seed is in every person good or bad.

„Having dysfunction within you does not make you bad. It makes you a byproduct of your environment. It makes you a person full of adaptations, some of which do more harm than good… just like the rest of us.“

—  Teal Swan American spiritual teacher 1984

„I have seen this too many times before. The unwarranted devotion. Putting up with the fear of being with the wrong person because you can’t deal with the fear of being alone. The hope tinged with doubt, and the doubt tinged with hope.“

—  David Levithan, book Every Day

Source: Every Day

„I am not a bad person. I am a good person who has lived in a bad time."
Alex's grandfather.. Everything is Illuminated“

—  Jonathan Safran Foer Novelist 1977

„When you see anyone complaining
of such and such a person's ill-nature and bad temper,
know that the complainant is bad-tempered,
forasmuch as he speaks ill of that bad-tempered person,
because he alone is good-tempered who is quietly forbearing
towards the bad-tempered and ill-natured.“

—  Rumi Iranian poet 1207 - 1273

IV, 771-4
Jewels of Remembrance (1996)

„“He is a good person. He did a bad thing,” Leiderman told the judge.“

—  Jay Leiderman lawyer 1971

As stated in, A Simple Phrase From a Sentencing Hearing in a Difficult High-Profile Case. http://jayleiderman.com/blog/jay-leiderman-quoted-part-9-a-simple-phrase-from-a-difficult-high-profile-case/
Variant: He is a good person. He did a bad thing.

„Nothing is really good or bad in itself — it’s all what a person thinks about it.“

—  William Shakespeare English playwright and poet 1564 - 1616

„A human being can be good or bad or right or wrong, maybe. But how can you say a person is illegal? You just can't. That's all there is to it.“

—  Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees

Source: The Bean Trees

„A person whose conduct consists of not hurting anyone is not good; such a person is merely not bad. To be a good person involves the active pursuit of good. It is not enough merely to refrain from hurting other human beings; one must intercede on their behalf.“

—  Dennis Prager American writer, speaker, radio and TV commentator, theologian 1948

Source: 1980s, The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism (1986), p. 43

„You just can’t beat the person who never gives up“

—  Babe Ruth American baseball player 1895 - 1948

In "Bat It Outǃ" https://books.google.com/books?id=IEEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=%22you+just+can%27t+beat+the+person+who+never+gives+up%22+rotarian&source=bl&ots=AH8Z2KbO5c&sig=jxgpb2trmAXRSvZi1xmAmDc3e68&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjuo4XD6Z7dAhURZd8KHfOkBokQ6AEwB3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22you%20just%20can't%20beat%20the%20person%20who%20never%20gives%20up%22%20rotarian&f=false by George Herman ('Babe') Ruth, in The Rotarian (July 14, 1940), pp. 12-14
Context: One more point: A good player never stops until he's actually out, running as hard for first base on the almost-certain-to-be-caught fly or grounder as he would if he were sprinting the 100-yard dash. If Henry Ford hadn't kept going in the early days despite ridicule, we would never have seen the Ford car. It's been much the same with almost every great man you could name. He kept plugging when everybody said his chances of making first base were nil. You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.

„When you’ve found out that the person you love loves you, you can’t
delay. You have to hurry.“

—  Alex Flinn American children's writer 1966

Source: Cloaked

„you're not a bad person because you want to be yourself.“

—  Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

„I'm a good person. In most ways. But I'm beginning to think that being a good person in most ways doesn't count for anything very much, if you're a bad person in one way.“

—  Nick Hornby English novelist 1957

„My mom once told me that a good relationship isn't where the other person makes you feel better, but where they make *you* better.“

—  Brian K. Vaughan American screenwriter, comic book creator 1976

Source: Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores

„A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.“

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

1950s, Loving Your Enemies (November 1957)

„dealing with any man means dealing with multiple personalities.“

—  Rick Riordan, book The Serpent's Shadow

Source: The Serpent's Shadow

„Let's make a deal; if you promise not to get "personal" with me, I will promise not to show you as the crude, fat and obnoxious slob which everyone knows you are. Sincerely, Donald J. Trump.“

—  Donald J. Trump 45th President of the United States of America 1946

Letter to journalist Shannon Donnelly http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/lifestyles/before-twitter-name-calling-letter-from-donald-trump/KaGSV40cQnefESyXhe5CuN/, 1996
1990s

„He’s total team player - it’s not about him, and you can’t say enough about him as a person aside from his athletic abilities. But it’s the person in him, it’s the intangibles within him that make him the back that he is. There are other guys who are just as explosive and just as fast, but it’s the things inside of him that make him special.“

—  Javon Ringer All-American college football player, professional football player, running back 1987

MSU head coach Mark Dantonio, quoted at Ringer 23.com (undated)