In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted shortcuts to love...We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the neverending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.
John Steinbeck
Related In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and ... JOHN STEINBECK Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it appears to be. JEFFREY FRY Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil... PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY In this world, there is no absolute good, no absolute evil," the man said. "Good and evil are not fi... HARUKI MURAKAMI Tolerating evil leads only to more evil. And when good people stand by and do nothing while wickedne... BOB RILEY Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866 We are born knowing nothing and with much stri... PAUL ELMER MORE I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their liv... JOHN STEINBECK To refrain from evil and from strong drink and to be always, steadfast in virtue; this is the good l... BUDDHA What kind of a world do we live in, when the good are taken advantage of by the bad, while the bad h... C. JOYBELL C. There's always the same amount of good luck and bad luck in the world. If one person doesn't get the... TOM ROBBINS Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they t... POPE FRANCIS I remember clearly the deaths of three men. One was the richest man of the century, who, having claw... JOHN STEINBECK While time lasts there will always be a future, and that future will hold both good and evil, since ... DOROTHY L. SAYERS The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by... JEFF COOPER "The most meanest and depraved of men come out on top, and women flock to these men.Their evil acts ... ELLIOT RODGER While the soul is in mortal sin, nothing can profit it; none of its good works merit an eternal rewa... SAINT TERESA OF AVILA We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue... WILLIAM JAMES In each of us, two natures are at war – the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on bet... ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good: so far as we do evil or good, we are... TS (THOMAS STEARNS) ELIOT So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good: so far as we do evil or good, we are... T.S. ELIOT All I ever did to that apartment was hang fifty yards of yellow theatrical silk across the bedroom w... JOAN DIDION We can never make proper goodbyes. It was your last ride in a Checker cab and you had no warning. It... COLSON WHITEHEAD Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emi... DIOGENES The Biggest Threat to our Democracy, Freedoms and Future is Leadership that fosters and Appeases the... MICHAEL HARRIS A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; b... THOMAS PAINE A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, b... THOMAS PAINE It's important that someone celebrate our existence... People are the only mirror we have to see our... LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD 37. It is better to be single and unhappy than unhappily married. JAMES C. DOBSON He said after a little while, 'I see why you say that only men do evil, I think. Even sharks are inn... URSULA K. LE GUIN I know now: what is is all that matters. Not the thing you know is meant to be, not what could be, n... AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS No one who is in this world will deny that evils exist. What, then, do we say? That evil is not a li... SAINT BASIL While Democrats have all the same vices as the Republicans, they are without the cunningness, viciou... BOBBY W. MILLER Corrupt fantasy points us, or forms us, in a consciousness that can lead to thinking that evil is go... MICHAEL O'BRIEN All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing... EDMUND BURKE I do not desire evil, Garan had said to her once, but it seems to me that to stand idle wh... R.J. ANDERSON The worst evil is that most subtle evil. It is the evil that is merely 'base' which is more evil tha... CRISS JAMI Truly has it been said; that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do not... SOURCE UNKNOWN Conservatives divide the world in terms of good and evil while liberals do it in terms of the rich a... DENNIS PRAGER There has come into existence, chiefly in America, a breed of men who claim to be feminists. They im... GERMAINE GREER There has come into existence, chiefly in America, a breed of men who claim to be feminists. They im... GERMAINE GREER All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. EDMUND BURKE All mental hygiene is based on the core practice of doing nothing. Most of us are good at wasting ti... MARTHA BECK Be the good in the world, and you will see the good in the world. Be the evil in the world and you w... PHILIP T. M. We are tainted by modern philosophy which has taught us that all is good, whereas evil has polluted ... JOSEPH DE MAISTRE There is no one who is completely evil as to lack some goodness in him. BANGAMBIKI HABYARIMANA You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contrib... GORDON B. HINCKLEY When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. W... MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. For a real New India to arise, all petty and small things must be given up. To be redeemed, all Indi... MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH Being present is being connected to All Things. S. KELLEY HARRELL, M. DIV. To me, the avocation of a teacher has something elevating and exciting. While surrounded by the youn... DOROTHEA DIX The most perplexing form of evil, and especially so for all idealists, is that kind of evil which co... WILLIAM IRWIN THOMPSON If she knew me as I really am she would despise me, and certainly not aid or abet my evil designs. T... WILLIAM BECKFORD Our life is a series of moments. Let them all go. Moments. All gathering towards this one. NOW IS GOOD Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and ... FREDERICK BUECHNER The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. EDMUND BURKE So we reach into the raging chaos, and we cling to it, and we tell ourselves it has meaning, and tha... ANNE RICE Superstitious persons, who know better how to rail at vice than how to teach virtue, and who strive ... BARUCH SPINOZA Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. ... ROBERT DUVALL The difference between the men and the boys in politics is, and always has been, that the boys want ... ERIC SEVAREID I don‟t hate men,” she said, giving him a quick glance before returning her attention to keeping... SUSAN MALLERY The use of fashions in thought is to distract men from their real dangers. We direct the fashionable... C.S. LEWIS All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. EDMUND BURKE Once again, the racists and anti-Semites are exploiting a tragedy of great proportion and one that b... ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing. SIMON WIESENTHAL I must not permit the evil capabilities of human nature to sour my faith in the tremendous good that... MOTHER ANGELICA Millions of business people are each constantly forced to choose between their desire to not be a ba... MOKOKOMA MOKHONOANA As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an
evil, then their good becomes indist... CHRISTOPHER DAWSON As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indisti... CHRISTOPHER DAWSON As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indisti... CHRISTOPHER DAWSON My friends, if there is one gift in my omniscience, it’s the knowledge I have of just how much goo... SEAN PATRICK BRENNAN What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indee... HANNAH ARENDT Evil exists to glorify the good. Evil is negative good. It is a relative term. Evil can be transmute... MENCIUS Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else i... LEO TOLSTOY All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. EDMUND BURKE I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES While this is a good alternative, these bullets are not available on the market. We have to be caref... GREG AUSTIN A purposeless virtue is a contradiction in terms. Virtue, like harmony, cannot exist alone; a virtue... WENDELL BERRY Sufis teach that we first must battle and destroy the evil within ourselves by shining upon it the g... FEISAL ABDUL RAUF The evil in the world comes almost always from ignorance, and goodwill can cause as much damage as i... ALBERT CAMUS The truth is that there are no good men, or bad men,' he said. 'It is the deeds that have goodness o... GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS No story is more beautiful than the Gospel, even though it is a story full of pain and nails and hat... PETER KREEFT The human person, whose definition serves as the touchstone according to which good must be distingu... EMILE DURKHEIM Many worthy people, and many good books, with no doubt the best intentions, ... have represented a l... SIR JOHN LUBBOCK The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation," she said. "Evil is easy to fight. ... RICK RIORDAN There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil, least of all in people. In the best of us there ar... TERRY GOODKIND It is not enough to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. ... GORDON B. HINCKLEY In such a state, humility is the virtue of men, and their only defense; to walk humbly with God, nev... PAUL ELMER MORE Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian moral... C.S. LEWIS There is just as much evil in all of us as there is good. We're all continuously guilty, even if... MICHAEL HANEKE Artists instinctively want to reflect humanity, their own and each other's, in all its intermitt... TOM HIDDLESTON Soul mates' are fiction and an illusion; and while every young man and young woman will seek with al... SPENCER W. KIMBALL Humans are insane. We kill our own people, starve our own people, sell them, work them to death, bea... FAITH HUNTER All good things are borne from evil, just like good people. It’s very rare that someone does thing... KEVIN REAVER You see death is a tool to degrade and destroy people, I see it as a life lesson that I use to empow... ANGEL RAMON MEDINA Each time a new war is disclosed in the name of the fight of the good against evil, those who are ki... EDUARDO GALEANO Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man. ANTHONY BURGESS The difference between real life and a story is that life has significance , while a story mus... VERA NAZARIAN Be encouraged. Hold your head up high and know God is in control and has a plan for you. Instead of ... GERMANY KENT
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JOHN STEINBECK And everywhere people asked him why he was walking through the country. Because he loved true t... JOHN STEINBECK Look at them. There are your true philosophers. I think that Mack and the boys know everything that ... JOHN STEINBECK For there are two possible reactions to social ostracism - either a man emerges determined to be bet... JOHN STEINBECK Being at ease with himself put him at ease with the world. JOHN STEINBECK Do you think it's funny to be so serious when I'm not even out of high school?' she asked. 'I d... JOHN STEINBECK I wonder how many people I have looked at all my life and never really seen. JOHN STEINBECK To the stars, on the wings of a pig. JOHN STEINBECK The ways of sin are curious . . . I guess if a man had to shuck off everything he had, inside and ou... JOHN STEINBECK The direction of a big act will warp history, but probably all acts do the same in their degree, dow... JOHN STEINBECK ...Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides whit... JOHN STEINBECK He learned that when people are very poor they still have something to give and the impulse to give ... JOHN STEINBECK No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us. JOHN STEINBECK Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man. JOHN STEINBECK You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let your... JOHN STEINBECK Why do men like me want sons?" he wondered. "It must be because they hope in their poor beaten souls... JOHN STEINBECK To be alive at all is to have scars. JOHN STEINBECK If a story is not about the hearer he [or she] will not listen . . . A great lasting story is about ... JOHN STEINBECK Don't you dare take the lazy way. It's too easy to excuse yourself because of your ancestry. Don't l... JOHN STEINBECK I was mean life a wolf. Now i'm mean like a weasel. When you're huntin' somepin you're a hunter, an'... JOHN STEINBECK When you're huntin' somepin you're a hunter, an' you're strong. Can't nobody beat a hunter. But when... JOHN STEINBECK But this—this is a ladder to climb to the stars.” Lee’s eyes shone. “You can never lose that... JOHN STEINBECK Maybe-- maybe love makes you suspicious and doubting. Is it true that when you love a woman you are ... JOHN STEINBECK And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing... JOHN STEINBECK Just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and ... JOHN STEINBECK Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mi... JOHN STEINBECK No one who is young is ever going to be old. JOHN STEINBECK ..it's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world...It makes you mean, and violent, an... JOHN STEINBECK It’s a hard thing to leave any deeply routine life, even if you hate it. JOHN STEINBECK Perhaps the less we have, the more we are required to brag. JOHN STEINBECK A man without words is a man without thought. JOHN STEINBECK When a man says he does not want to speak of something he usually means he can think of nothing else... JOHN STEINBECK But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thin... JOHN STEINBECK A man so painfully in love is capable of self-torture beyond belief. JOHN STEINBECK People like you to be something, preferably what they are. JOHN STEINBECK