“Active Evil is better than Passive Good.”
1780s, Annotations to Lavater (1788)
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William Blake 249
English Romantic poet and artist 1757–1827Related quotes
Source: The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad (2004), Chapter 56 “At Last, the Box, Explained” (p. 320)
“It’s better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a tremendous cost.”
“God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.”
Enchiridion (c. 420 ), Ch. 27
“You must not grieve so heavily.
Better are good than evil omens.”
The Tale of Taleisin
Context: You must not grieve so heavily.
Better are good than evil omens.
though I am weak and small,
Spumed with Dylan's wave,
I shall be better for you
Than three hundred shares of salmon.
“Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him?”
Source: A Clockwork Orange
How to be happy though rich or poor (1930)
“Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.”
Quoted in: Fayek S. Hourani (2012) Daily Bread for Your Mind and Soul, p. 336.
“The student is to read history actively not passively.”
Source: Self-Reliance and Other Essays