“Evil knows of the Good, but Good does not know of Evil. Knowledge of oneself is something only Evil has.”

—  Franz Kafka , book The Blue Octavo Notebooks

The First Octavo Notebook https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gD981HZ190BUJF-3czZNX3DsFWvqp3cq-Z4QS4d-9gw/edit?hl=en
The Blue Octavo Notebooks (1954)

Original

Das Böse weiß vom Guten, aber das Gute vom Bösen nicht. Selbsterkenntnis hat nur das Böse.

Die Acht Oktavhefte https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=xZ9IBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16&dq=Das+B%C3%B6se+wei%C3%9F+vom+Guten,+aber+das+Gute+vom+B%C3%B6sen+nicht.+Selbsterkenntnis+hat+nur+das+B%C3%B6se.&hl=zh-TW&sa=X&ei=Fnb9VL6BN4aB8gXwv4CoAw&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Das%20B%C3%B6se%20wei%C3%9F%20vom%20Guten%2C%20aber%20das%20Gute%20vom%20B%C3%B6sen%20nicht.%20Selbsterkenntnis%20hat%20nur%20das%20B%C3%B6se.&f=false; published by BookRix, 9-8-2014.
The Blue Octavo Notebooks (1954)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Evil knows of the Good, but Good does not know of Evil. Knowledge of oneself is something only Evil has." by Franz Kafka?
Franz Kafka photo
Franz Kafka 266
author 1883–1924

Related quotes

Herodotus photo

“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.”

Herodotus (-484–-425 BC) ancient Greek historian, often considered as the first historian

The words of Socrates, as quoted by Diogenes Laertius.
Misattributed

John Cheever photo

“Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil not the strength to choose between the two.”

John Cheever (1912–1982) American novelist and short story writer

The Late Forties and the Fifties, 1956 entry.
The Journals of John Cheever (1991)

Socrates photo

“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”

Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher

Socrates II: xxxi http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=D.+L.+2.5.31&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0257#note-link14. Original Greek: ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν
Diogenes Laertius
Variant: The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.

George MacDonald photo

“Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist
Emanuel Swedenborg photo

“A person who knows all that is good and all that is true — as much as can be known — but does not resist evils, knows nothing.”
Homo qui scit omnia bona et omnia vera, quotcunque sciri possunt, et non fugit mala, nihil scit

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) Swedish 18th century scientist and theologian

Apocalypse Explained #1180

Walter Scott photo

“For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 33, The Black Knight speaking to Locksley.

George Bernard Shaw photo

“I am justified. For I chose wisdom and the knowledge of good and evil; and now there is no evil; and wisdom and good are one. It is enough.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

The Serpent, in Pt. V
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)

Tzvetan Todorov photo

“We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know where good and evil are to be found.”

Tzvetan Todorov (1939–2017) Bulgarian historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist

Hope and Memory: Reflections on the Twentieth Century (2003)

Rick Riordan photo

“But magic is neither good nor evil. It is a tool, like a knife. Is a knife evil? Only if the wielder is evil.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Related topics