On the choice of friends, Our good or evil name depends.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
The first idea that the child must acquire, in order to be actively disciplined, is that of the difference between good and evil; and the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity.
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
In avoiding the appearance of evil, I am not sure but I have sometimes unnecessarily deprived myself and others of innocent enjoyments.
—Rutherford B. Hayes
The man who does evil to another does evil to himself, and the evil counsel is most evil for him who counsels it.
—Hesiod (b.1493) Greek Poet, Economist
It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
Let guilty men remember, their black deeds
Do lean on crutches made of slender reeds.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
You must have the devil in you to succeed in the arts.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
An evil eye, an “evil imagination,” and misanthropy banish a man from the world.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
There is a method in man’s wickedness; it grows up by degrees.
—Francis Beaumont (1584–1616) English Dramatist
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
A wicked mortal is not the idea of God. He is little else than the expression of error. To suppose that sin, lust, hatred, envy, hypocrisy, revenge, have life abiding in them, is a terrible mistake. Life and Life’s idea, Truth and Truth’s idea, never make men sick, sinful, or mortal.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Science Religious Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn’t angry enough.
—Bede Jarrett
Every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor. — As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil.
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846) English Painter, Writer
The pious pretence that evil does not exist only makes it vague, enormous and menacing.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
The devil doesn’t know how to sing, only how to howl.
—Francis Thompson (1859–1907) English Poet, Ascetic
The urge to gamble is so universal and its practice so pleasurable that I assume it must be evil.
—Heywood Broun (1888–1939) American Journalist, Editor
Evil is not something superhuman, it’s something less than human.
—Agatha Christie (1890–1976) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.
—Max Lerner
No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) English Writer, Feminist
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
Tell the truth and shame the devil.
—Common Proverb
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
—Buddhist Teaching
The “Spirit of Evil “entices a man in this world, and testifies against him in the next.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The devil’s most devilish when respectable.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet, Translator
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
Where there is no imagination there is no horror.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
Combinations of wickedness would overwhelm the world, by the advantage which licentious principles afford, did not those who have long practised perfidy grow faithless to each other.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The “evil imagination “takes advantage only of visible objects.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still.
—A. W. Tozer (1897–1963) American Christian Pastor, Preacher, Author, Editor
Man has always been dexterous at confusing evil with good. That was Adam’s and Eve’s problem, and it is our problem today. If evil were not made to appear attractive, there would be no such thing as temptation.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader