Skip to content

Good and Evil Quotes

Shakespeare, Kurt Vonnegut, Eric Hoffer, Cicero and Seneca lead. Tolstoy, in The First Step (1892), says that to be good and lead a good life means to give others more than one takes from them. Eleanor Farjeon, in two books from the early 1920s, makes a better joke of it: it is no use crying over spilt evils, it is better to mop them up laughing.

The line about fighting monsters and gazing into the abyss is credited to Mark Twain and marked misattributed. The notes give a German text and a modern translation, which is the Nietzsche version. The “pass through this world but once” passage, credited to Stephen Grellet, is disputed, and a passage on living for something, credited to Thomas Chalmers, is flagged misattributed.

Random quote on Good and Evil

Most quoted on good and evil:

Buddha is the only prophet who said, I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul? Do good and be good.

Swami Vivekananda

Darkseid considers anything evil that's going to stop him. If you stop me, I consider you evil.

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby interview (1971)

The evil arising from mental improvement can be corrected only by a still further progress in that very improvement. Either morality is a fable, or the more enlightened we are, the more attached to it we become.

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

One gets a bad habit of being unhappy.

George Eliot The Mill on the Floss (1860)

Across the world, new roles are embraced … new alliances forged. After far too long a time, the gods have chosen to work with mankind towards a common good.
Only one works alone.

Mark Waid Kingdom Come (1996)

In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practised, and, both by precept and example, inculcated on mankind.

Samuel Adams The Rights of the Colonists (1772)

We like to have a point of view in our stories, not an obvious moral, but a worthwhile theme. … All we are trying to do is give the public good entertainment. That is all they want.

Walt Disney

Osteria are a universal good.

Ersilio Tonini

Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin, while has called George W. Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good.

Mitt Romney

For good or evil, man has geared his own mechanism with the unbounded machinery of inanimate Nature, and... made possible... elimination of the ugliest features of his existence...

Frederick Soddy Matter, Energy, Consciousness and Spirit (1919)

Thank God for 9/11. Thank God that, five years ago, the wrath of God was poured out upon this evil nation. America, land of the sodomite damned. We thank thee, Lord God Almighty, for answering the prayers of those that are under the altar.

Fred Phelps

Dante was trying to get to the bottom of what constitutes evil. There's a hierarchy of reprehensible behavior, and Dante thought it was betrayal. And I think that's right, because I believe the fundamental human resource is trust.

Jordan Peterson

One has got to choose between the two evils, also between the lesser of the two evils in the matter of food, and therefore vegetarian food has got to be taken by man in order to sustain human life

Morarji Desai

Only the mediocre are always at their best.

Jean Giraudoux Attributed The Beauty Principal (1984)

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.

Stephen Grellet Disputed

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.

Mark Twain Misattributed

Live for something! Do good and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy on the hearts of the thousands you come in contact with, year by year, and you will never be forgotten. Your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind, as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.

Thomas Chalmers Misattributed P. 243. in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

Booker T. Washington Misattributed

Good soldiers, bad officers; however don't forget that without them we would not have any Civilization.

Erwin Rommel Disputed

Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it.

Andrew Jackson Attributed Excellent Quotations for Home and School Selected for the use of Teachers and Pupils (1890)

Related topics