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83e073b People aren't born good or bad. Maybe they're born with tendencies either way, but its the way you live your life that matters. good life Cassandra Clare
2eca33c People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us... It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of. good Gregory Maguire
7629084 It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. good charming tedious Oscar Wilde
120447a Knowledge is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil. good knowledge power Veronica Roth
e47b4b8 "I know [Umbridge] by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater-" "She's foul enough to be one..." "Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters." harry-potter good dolores-umbridge sirius-black umbridge evil J. K. Rowling
65a0ebf it's much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it. good leo-tolstoy deeds Leo Tolstoy
d74b20e Many atrocities, have been done in the name of the greater good. good acomaf rhysand Sarah J. Maas
8887a82 It was the moment I realized what music can do to people, how it can make you hurt and feel so good all at once. good music love inspirational power-of-music hurt Nina LaCour
b05a375 So you see, Good and Evil have the same face; it all depends on when they cross the path of each individual human being. good humanity Paulo Coelho
9b37290 I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none. lies good love truth mrs-coulter Philip Pullman
1f1d9b7 People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil... Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult. good religion god devil Anne Rice
851810b You know how confusing the whole good-evil concept is for me. good-and-evil good morality humor Jim Butcher
cc4c255 To light a candle is to cast a shadow... good equilibrium taoism knowledge evil Ursula K. Le Guin
ae51c4b When people see some things as beautiful lao-tzu good beauty inspirational tao-te-ching worldview evil Lao Tzu
4b3dd33 It is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. good humanity humans Anthony Burgess
09a3e04 Though I obviously have no proof of this, the one aspect of life that seems clear to me is that good people do whatever they believe is the right thing to do. Being virtuous is hard, not easy. The idea of doing good things simply because you're good seems like a zero-sum game; I'm not even sure those actions would still qualify as 'good,' since they'd merely be a function of normal behavior. Regardless of what kind of god you believe in--a loving god, a vengeful god, a capricious god, a snooty beret-wearing French god, or whatever--one has to assume that you can't be penalized for doing the things you believe to be truly righteous and just. Certainly, this creates some pretty glaring problems: Hitler may have thought he was serving God. Stalin may have thought he was serving God (or something vaguely similar). I'm certain Osama bin Laden was he was serving God. It's not hard to fathom that all of those maniacs were certain that what they were doing was right. Meanwhile, I do things that I are wrong; they're not on the same scale as incinerating Jews or blowing up skyscrapers, but my motivations might be worse. I have looked directly into the eyes of a woman I loved and told her lies for no reason, except that those lies would allow me to continue having sex with another woman I cared about less. This act did not kill 20 million Russian peasants, but it might be more 'diabolical' in a literal sense. If I died and found out I was going to hell and Stalin was in heaven, I would note the irony, but I couldn't complain. I don't make the fucking rules. good virtues hell Chuck Klosterman
e126fcb God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can't. If a thing is free to be good it's also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata -of creatures that worked like machines- would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they've got to be free. Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently, He thought it worth the risk. (...) If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will -that is, for making a real world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings- then we may take it it is worth paying. good free-will C.S. Lewis
286a506 The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones. good death reputation deeds legacy remembrance evil William Shakespeare
3e82b81 And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are. All we can say is that this is a good deed, because it helps someone or that's an evil one because it hurts them. People are too complicated to have simple labels. labels good people complicated deed evil name Philip Pullman
92f6412 Hell wasn't a major reservoir of evil, any more then Heaven, in Crowley's opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind. heaven good hell Terry Pratchett
b3a302e "In this treacherous world Nothing is the truth nor a lie. lies good truth perception evil Pedro Calderón de la Barca
c1af06b The best is the enemy of good. good greed insatiability desires best Voltaire
8c941c1 We are what we are. Nothing more, nothing less. There is good and evil among every kind of people. It's the evil among us who rule now. good politics Anne Bishop
19ff0ee There are only two forces at work in this world- black and white. Only people are grey. good wrong inspirational right evil Chris Heimerdinger
4eb59b6 Why are we talking about this good and evil? They're just names for sides. We know that. good terry-pratchett good-omens neil-gaiman Neil Gaiman
c96b4fe I can learn to live with guilt. I don't care about being good. good life choices guilt Holly Black
04afb04 Because sometimes people who seem good end up being not as good as you might have hoped. good people truth false-hope Jonathan Safran Foer
c5121e6 What if -- is more complicated than that? What if maybe opposite is true as well? Because, if bad can sometimes come from good actions--? where does it ever say, anywhere, that only bad can come from bad actions? Maybe sometimes -- the wrong way is the right way? You can take the wrong path and it still comes out where you want to be? Or, spin it another way, sometimes you can do everything wrong and it still turns out to be right? good wrong bad-deeds what-is-bad what-is-good good-deeds black-and-white Donna Tartt
a9bd89d Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good? good Lloyd Alexander
13d80de Perhaps I cannot make my people good, she told herself, but I should at least try to make them a little less bad. good people daenerys daenerys-targaryen queen George R.R. Martin
59879fa Strange how something good can come from something horrible. good horibble experience Jennifer L. Armentrout
0acea56 "I believe in good and evil," said Jem. "And I believe the soul is eternal. But I don't believe in the fiery pit, the pitchforks, or endless torment. I do not believe you can threaten people into goodness." good torment evil Cassandra Clare
69d5327 They who forgive most shall be most forgiven. good inspirational forgiving Anonymous
1a903d2 I just think of things as beautiful or not. Can't you understand? I don't think of good or bad. Just of beautiful or ugly. I think a lot of nice things are ugly and a lot of nasty things are beautiful. good beauty ugliness John Fowles
6cb40d1 It's God that's worrying me. That's the only thing that's worrying me. What if He doesn't exist? What if Rakitin's right -that it's an idea made up by men? Then, if He doesn't exist, man is the king of the earth, of the universe. Magnificent! Only how is he going to be good without God? That's the question. I always come back to that. Who is man going to love then? To whom will he be thankful? To whom will he sing the hymn? Rakitin laughs. Rakitin says that one can love humanity instead of God. Well, only an idiot can maintain that. I can't understand it. Life's easy for Rakitin. 'You'd better think about the extension of civic rights, or of keeping down the price of meat. You will show your love for humanity more simply and directly by that, than by philosophy.' I answered him: 'Well, but you, without a God, are more likely to raise the price of meat if it suits you, and make a rouble on every penny.' He lost his temper. But after all, what is goodness? Answer that, Alyosha. Goodness is one thing with me and another with a Chinaman, so it's relative. Or isn't it? Is it not relative? A treacherous question! You won't laugh if I tell you it's kept me awake for two nights. I only wonder now how people can live and think nothing about it. Vanity! good moral-law relativism Fyodor Dostoyevsky
c6581d0 Governments will rise, and governments will fall, and man will do evil to man, and all we can do is turn our hearts to good. good government Margaret Peterson Haddix
d48ec3e "It's daft, locking us up," said Nanny. "I'd have had us killed." "That's because you're basically good," said Magrat. "The good are innocent and create justice. The bad are guilty, which is why they invent mercy." good philosophy-of-science ethics sociology evil Terry Pratchett
626ac84 War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children. war good peace Jimmy Carter
fec384e "Why is it the songs all end with the good people winning, but in life they don't?" They don't make songs when the good lose," I muttered. "They make war chants against the bad. So there won't be any songs for us." good songs inspirational Sherwood Smith
bf72740 "Briar: "They never tell you some things. They tell you mages have wonderful power and they learn all kinds of secrets. Nobody ever mentions that some secrets you don't ever want to learn." Rosethorn: "All you can do is learn good to balance the bad. Learn and do all the good within your reach. Then, if you wake in a sweat, you have something to set against the dream." good magic briar rosethorn balance nightmares Tamora Pierce
054acb2 Do those people who hold up the Bible as an inspiration to moral rectitude have the slightest notion of what is actually written in it? good religion science Richard Dawkins
9433157 You never enjoy the world aright, till the Sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars: and perceive yourself to be the sole heir of the whole world, and more than so, because men are in it who are every one sole heirs as well as you. Till you can sing and rejoice and delight in God, as misers do in gold, and Kings in sceptres, you never enjoy the world. Till your spirit filleth the whole world, and the stars are your jewels; till you are as familiar with the ways of God in all Ages as with your walk and table: till you are intimately acquainted with that shady nothing out of which the world was made: till you love men so as to desire their happiness, with a thirst equal to the zeal of your own: till you delight in God for being good to all: you never enjoy the world. stars heaven good world spirit love jewel sea king Thomas Traherne
e3bfd7c I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. Humans are caught - in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too - in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite any changes we may impose on field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well - or ill? story good john-steinbeck evil John Steinbeck
b9cec77 "Highs and lows make you feel that things matter, but they're nothing." "So what's something?" "Being reliable is something. Being good." good Jonathan Safran Foer
26b86c4 There's a Good Book about goodness and how to be good and so forth, but there's no Evil Book about how to be evil and how to be bad. The Devil had no prophets to write his Ten Commandments, and no team of authors to write his biography. His case has gone completely by default. We know nothing about him but a lot of fairy stories from our parents and schoolmasters. He has no book from which we can learn the nature of evil in all its forms, with parables about evil people, proverbs about evil people, folklore about evil people. All we have is the living example of people who are least good, or our own intuition. good the-devil Ian Fleming
5319077 Because sometimes you have to do something bad to do something good. good Oscar Wilde
b6ad4d5 " was a great man. a wonderful intellect, a great soul of matchless courage, one of the great men of the earth -- and yet we have no right to bow down to his memory simply because he was great. Great orators, great soldiers, great lawyers, often use their gifts for a most unholy cause. We meet to pay a tribute of love and respect to because he used his matchless power for the good of man. good courage goodness love ingersoll robert-g-ingersoll robert-green-ingersoll robert-ingersoll eulogy praise greatness tribute respect honor power memory Clarence Darrow
9e9159f Nately had a bad start. He came from a good family. nately good family Joseph Heller
105e4c5 There are no self-proclaimed villains, only regiments of self-proclaimed saints. Victorious historians rule where good or evil lies. good morality evil Glen Cook
b2d2c4b And one more thing: you still believe that man can be good. If that weren't the case, you wouldn't have invented all this nonsense to convince yourself otherwise. good Paulo Coelho
90ad722 No doubt your sword is indeed a beautiful thing. It is a tribute to whoever forged it in bygone ages. There are very few such swords as this one left in the world, but remember, it is only a sword, Matthias! It contains no secret spell, nor holds within its blade any magical power. This sword is made for only one purpose, to kill. It will only be as good or evil as the one who wields it. I know that you intend to use it only for the good of your Abbey, Matthias; do so, but never allow yourself to be tempted into using it in a careless or idle way. It would inevitably cost you your life, or that of your dear ones. Martin the Warrior used the sword only for right and good. This is why it has become a symbol of power to Redwall. Knowledge is gained through wisdom, my friend. Use the sword wisely. good wisedom sword right Brian Jacques
4bd6626 "I don't consider myself as a bad person, on the whole I consider myself a good person, I'm good to my parents. I treat my girl right... take her out and buy her stuff. And I go to church every Sunday, But I've decided that just once I wanna do a really bad thing. I mean a really seriously bad thing. 'cause, ya know, like, we're put on this earth with free will. We can choose to do this or that. We can choose to be good or bad. But sometimes I think most people are good and not bad only because they're scared they might go to jail or hell or someplace. Some guy once said: "Anything done out of fear has no moral value" Well, I think that's right. I figure the only way you can be truly good is if you've tried been good, and you've tried being bad, and being good feels better." good morality Alan Moore
dd4b26e "War, Nobby. Huh! What is it good for?" he said. "Dunno, Sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?" "Absol--well, okay." "Defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor?" "All right, I'll grant you that, but--" "Saving civilization from a horde of--" "It doesn't do any good in the long run is what I'm saying, Nobby, if you'd listen for five seconds together," said Fred Colon sharply. "Yeah, but in the long run, what does, Sarge?" war slavery good long-run totalitarianism Terry Pratchett
102c1fd You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue. competitive-issue true good life beautiful Mitch Albom
34b6b94 wherever you find the greatest good, you will find the greatest evil, because evil loves paradise as much as good. good philosophy paradise Wallace Stegner
a998224 None so good that he has no faults, None so wicked that he is worth naught. good wicked Edith Hamilton
0d4c56d And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of of that order was to give room for good things to run wild. good philosophy truth theology G.K. Chesterton
e04d4da Yes it is, because you can only be brave if you're scared. good motivational inspirational the-impossible-knife-of-memory laurie-halse-anderson scared Laurie Halse Anderson
f35c66d The West's post-Holocaust pledge that genocide would never again be tolerated proved to be hollow, and for all the fine sentiments inspired by the memory of Auschwitz, the problem remains that denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good. good auschewitz south-sudan sentiment indifference apathy tolerance west genocide rwanda sudan holocaust hitler hollow talk evil Philip Gourevitch
33f2ad6 By definition, a human being is endowed with free will. He can use this to choose between good and evil. If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange - meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or (since this is increasingly replacing both) the Almighty State. It is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities. This is what the television news is all about. Unfortunately there is so much original sin in us all that we find evil rather attractive. To devastate is easier and more spectacular than to create. good morality moral-compass morals evil sin Anthony Burgess
a3198ff Let's fly away and live forever good life relativity forever genius crazy Orson Scott Card
1ffca15 "Pure has become impure, Impure has now become pure. Good has now become bad, Bad has become evil. For one to live is to die, good wisdom impure inuyasha kikyo pure Rumiko Takahashi
66fec68 It's the fools that make all the trouble in the world, not the wicked. good stupidity L.M. Montgomery
643a8f6 Throughout the world what remains of the vast public spaces are now only the stuff of legends: Robin Hood's forest, the Great Plains of the Amerindians, the steppes of the nomadic tribes, and so forth... Rousseau said that the first person who wanted a piece of nature as his or her own exclusive possession and transformed it into the transcendent form of private property was the one who invented evil. Good, on the contrary, is what is common. good private-property empire evil Antonio Negri Michael Hardt
34167bf Some boys walk by and you cry, seeing them. They feel good, they look good, they are good. Oh, they're not above peeing off a bridge, or stealing an occasional dime-store pencil sharpener; it's not that. It's just, you know, seeing them pass, that's how they'll be all their life; they'll get hit, hurt, cut, bruised, and always wonder why, why does it happen? how can it happen to pain good goodness people-will-hurt-you hurt cry description innocence vulnerable sad Ray Bradbury
4e2bec8 There are always choices. But sometimes there are no good ones. good choice reality truth worse worst bad decide decision choices evil Robin Hobb
9f9cb1e The bad end unhappily; the good, unluckily. That is what tragedy means. tragedy good Tom Stoppard
bd041e9 There is evil in all of us, and it is the mark of a man how he defies the evil within. man good David Gemmell
d013de5 The sun was good. The men of the llano were men of the sun. The men of the farms along the river were men of the moon. But we were all children of the white sun. men good moon llano bless rudolfo ultima me sun Rudolfo Anaya
7842c42 It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better, [Cloquet thought,] while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more. sleep good Woody Allen
b67dc21 "We haven't been too bad, have we?" "No, nor enormously good. I suppose that's the trouble - we haven't been much of anything except us, while a big part of the world was busy being lots of awful things." good world peace Ray Bradbury
941e196 And I'd learned, the hard way, that sometimes, even with the purest intentions, we make things worse when we do our best to make things better. good intentions Gregory David Roberts
4b2a2ce I can never resist telling people good news. I mean, why not brighten someone else's life too? true good people day good-news Sophie Kinsella
5e77f08 The flip side of the coin of which Good and Evil are but one side. good morality Terry Pratchett
6d8c5b9 Odd, don't you think? I have seen war, and invasions and riots. I have heard of massacres and brutalities beyond imagining, and I have kept my faith in the power of civilization to bring men back from the brink. And yet one women writes a letter, and my whole world falls to pieces. You see, she is an ordinary woman. A good one, even. That's the point ... Nothing [a recognizably bad person does] can surprise or shock me, or worry me. But she denounced Julia and sent her to her death because she resented her, and because Julia is a Jew. I thought in this simple contrast between the civilized and the barbaric, but I was wrong. It is the civilized who are the truly barbaric, and the [Nazi] Germans are merely the supreme expression of it. war good denunciation ordinariness pettiness nazis wwii civilization resentment jews evil Iain Pears
8e5ccd7 When kings the sword of justice first lay down, They are no kings, though they possess the crown. Titles are shadows, crowns are empty things, The good of subjects is the end of kings. good monarchs subjects nothing emptiness titles kings purpose justice Daniel Defoe
c89e96c Good and evil are so close as to be chained together in the soul. good Robert Louis Stevenson
538d1a9 It didn't matter he was brilliant and dedicated and good. He was a child. He was young. No he isn't, thought Ender. Small, yes. Bur Bean has been through a battle with a whole army depending on him and on the soldiers that he led. and he performed splendidly, and the won. There's no youth in that. No childhood. live responsibility good life small young childhood Orson Scott Card
13db13e "Everything about this is embarrassing" she said. "D'you know how embarrassing it is to mention good and evil in a scientific laboratory? Have you any idea? One of the reasons I became a scientist was not to have to think about that kind of thing." good scientits Philip Pullman
a687392 "Rich and famous and doing good," mused Schlichtmann. "Rich isn't so difficult. Famous isn't so difficult. Rich and famous together aren't so difficult. Rich, famous, and doing good--now, that's very difficult." -- wealth good rich Jonathan Harr
f18aae5 We all disapprove of prostitution; but we do not all approve of purity. The only way to discuss the social evil is to get at once to the social ideal. We can all see the national madness; but what is national sanity? good national-troubles social-problems insanity G. K. Chesterton
7082b0e We're the villains you root for in the story. story good anti-heroes bad villians evil Melissa de la Cruz
21ede7f It isn't hard to find evil in this world. Evil is always more easily imagined than good, somehow. good goodness evil Gregory Maguire
1a71071 "The Bible may be an arresting and good religion sicence Richard Dawkins
8a5f417 Yours is a race whose imagination is limited to its own small appetites. Greed, lust, envy - these are the motivating forces of humankind. What redeems you is that in every man and woman there is a seed that can grow to encompass love, joy and compassion. But this seed is never allowed to prosper in fertile ground. It struggles for life among the rocks of your human soul. good humanity motivation love David Gemmell
10d8b36 Once the soul has left the body it had to walk across a bridge as narrow as a knife edge, with paradise on the right and, on the left, a series of circles that lead down into the darkness inside the earth. Before crossing the bridge, each person had to place all his virtues in his right hand and all his sins in his left, and the imbalance between the two meant that the person always fell towards the side to which his actions on Earth had inclined him. good life evil Paulo Coelho
1baab80 Without knowing it, Javert in his awful happiness was deserving of pity, like every ignorant man who triumphs. Nothing could have been more poignant or more heartrending than that countenance on which was inscribed all the evil in what is good. good law Victor Hugo
10be694 "That part of your life is over. Set it aside as something you have finished. Complete or no, it is done with you. No being gets to decide what his life is "supposed to be"...'Be a man. Discover where you are now, and go on from there, making the best of things. Accept your life, and you might survive it. If you hold back from it, insisting this is not your life, not where you are meant to be, life will pass you by. You may not die from such foolishness, but you might as well be dead for all the good your life will do you or anyone else." present fate good future honesty past destiny life truth aside complete forgo meant not part section set survive to decide done finish discover over end path be forget dead Robin Hobb
7a32651 "What was it that Granny Weatherwax had said once? "Evil starts when you begin to treat people as things". And right now it would happen if you thought there was a thing called a father, and a thing called a mother, and a thing called a daughter, and a thing called a cottage, and told yourself that if you put them all together you had a thing called a happy family." good morality humanity Terry Pratchett
958e313 Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice -- and the alternative his nature offers him is: rational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man -- by choice; he has to hold his life as a value -- by choice; he has to learn to sustain it -- by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues -- by choice. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality. virtue man mind good morality choice reason life philosophy john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism rational think thinking morals values evil Ayn Rand
becc919 I'm right and wrong, moral and immoral, good and bad, a hero and a villain, and I've been just as capable of truth as I have been lies. lies good wrong truth hero-and-villain moral-and-immoral chasing-impossible katie-mcgarry pushing-the-limits immoral good-and-bad truth-and-lies villain bad moral hero right-and-wrong right Katie McGarry
8f9e059 The world turns and the world changes, But one thing does not change. In all of my years, one thing does not change, However you disguise it, this thing does not change: The perpetual struggle of Good and Evil. struggle good world changeless disguise evil T.S. Eliot
77f6759 Relations were never good (how comfortable can you really be with a race that sees you as a nutritious part of a complete breakfast). good nutritious comfortable relations complete race John Scalzi
d3dafd8 The vilest of men and the wickedest of women likewise may do good from time to time, for love and compassion and pity may be found in even the blackest of hearts. good compassion heart love vile wicked evil George R.R. Martin
667b300 Thinking is man's only basic virtue, from which all the others proceed. And his basic vice, the source of all his evils, is that nameless act which all of you practice, but struggle never to admit: the act of blanking out, the willful suspension of one's consciousness, the refusal to think - not blindness, but the refusal to see; not ignorance, but the refusal to know. It is the act of unfocusing your mind and inducing an inner fog to escape the responsibility of judgment - on the unstated premise that a thing will not exist if only you refuse to identify it, that A will not be A so long as you do not pronounce the verdict 'It is. virtue man mind good morality reason life philosophy truth wisdom john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism rational think thinking morals values evil Ayn Rand
bd730a0 These are illusions of popular history which successful religion must promote: Evil men never prosper; only the brave deserve the fair; honesty is the best policy; actions speak louder than words; virtue always triumpths; a good deed is its own rewards; any bad human can be reformed; religious talismans protect one from demon possession; only females understand the ancient mysteries; the rich are doomed to unhappiness virtue history good morality goodness faith religion religious belief-systems dune-arrakis dune-house-atreides evil-men falsehoods justice-of-god dune-messiah dune moral-law religion-philosophy falsehood historical-perspective history-of-thought history-of-mankind belief-system religion-spirituality religious-faith historical beliefs religions moral virtues morals evil Frank Herbert
a28f11b And I know an eighteenth charm, and that charm is the greatest of all, and that charm I can tell no man, for a secret that no one knows but you is the most powerful secret there can ever be. good neil-gaiman Neil Gaiman
c9b2cb9 "I'm just a soul whose intentions are good,'" he sang to the crabs and the spiders and the palmetto beetles and the lizards and the night. '"Oh lord, please don't let me be misunderstood." good neal-gaiman the-animals nina-simone misunderstood intentions soul Neil Gaiman
fbaf76e The battle of good and evil reduced to a fat woman standing in front of a chocolate shop, saying, Will I? Won't I? in pitiful indecision. good Joanne Harris
3297c43 Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values. A morality that dares to tell you to find happiness in the renunciation of your happiness--to value the failure of your values--is an insolent negation of morality. virtue man mind good morality reason happiness life philosophy john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism rational think thinking morals values evil Ayn Rand
3a71a5f Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it--that no substitute can do your thinking--that the vilest form of self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man between your consciousness and your existence. virtue pain man mind good independence morality reason happiness life philosophy truth wisdom john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism rational think thinking morals values evil Ayn Rand
b412a98 "I have brought peace to this land, and security," he began. "And what of your soul, when you use the cleverness of argument to cloak such acts? Do you think that the peace of a thousand cancels out the unjust death of one single person? It may be desirable, it may win you praise from those who have happily survived you and prospered from your deeds, but you have committed ignoble acts, and have been too proud to own them. I have waited patiently here, hoping that you would come to me, for if you understood, then some of your acts would be mitigated. But instead you send me this manuscript, proud, magisterial, and demonstrating only that you have understood nothing at all." "I returned to public life on your advice, madam," he said stiffly. "Yes; I advised it. I said if learning must die it should do so with a friend by its bedside. Not an assassin." -- virtue injustice killing good learning philosophy public-office doctrine prosperity peace pride vice soul values evil Iain Pears
79f1f84 Look, Miranda, he said, those twenty long years that lie between you and me. I've more knowledge of life than you, I've lived more and betrayed more and seen more betrayed. At your age one is bursting with ideals. You think that because I can sometimes see what's trivial and what's important in art that I ought to be more virtuous. But I don't want to be virtuous. My charm (if there is any) for you is simply frankness. And experience. Not goodness. I'm not a good man. Perhaps morally I'm younger even than you are. Can you understand that? virtue good goodness life betrayed bursting younger older trivial ideals virtuous years frank old frankness betray important understand ideal experience charm knowledge betrayal young John Fowles
ea73fdd People won't admit it, they're too busy grabbing to see that the lights have fused. They can't see the darkness and the spider-face beyond and the great web of it all. That there's always this if you scratch at the surface of happiness and goodness. The black and the black and the black. happy good dark people goodness darkness happiness fused grab grabbing scratch spider lights beyond web distraction see black surface distracted John Fowles
98873b6 If we don't harness their potential for good, their societies will continue to reap their capacity for evil. good Roméo Dallaire
b20838b "The meaning of life in western secular society is to be successful. So many people are success mad and they are encouraged to reach for something and have so called "worthwhile goals". Money, fame, power, good looks, possessions are the indicators of success and the media and advertising companies exploit this. People are conditioned to believe that they can only feel happy or good about themselves if they have these things. This of course is not true." money looks lies good meaning success happiness life truth companies conditioned indicators what possessions conditioning is of fame successful western society goals secular media deceit power Tim Crawshaw
e48e78c The fifties are a peaceful time, a quiet sleeping time between two noisy bursts of years, a blue and white time filled with sweet yellow days, music and bright smelling memories. good childhood-memory the-fifties reminiscence David Gerrold
cc6eca3 For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart. good heart Yann Martel
1ee350a The seeds of salvation are buried in every act of evil. good salvation Shūsaku Endō
0cf0e0d "Good God, Keith." "Yes, I've talked to Him too and I'm still waiting on his Guidance..." good still keith guidance yes talk John Grisham
4c555ad Are you seeking to know what is wrong with the world? All the disasters that have wrecked your world, came from your leaders' attempt to evade the fact that A is A. All the secret evil you dread to face within you and all the pain you have ever endured, came from your own attempt to evade the fact that A is A. virtue man mind good morality reason life philosophy truth wisdom john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism rational think thinking morals values evil Ayn Rand
387a966 Your assignment from God is not to change your husband, but to love, follow, assist, and minister to him. marriage men good women god love truth assist minister wife pure christian follow husband Elizabeth George
d4aa10e Rationality is the recognition of the fact that existence exists, that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it, which is thinking--that the mind is one's only judge of values and one's only guide of action--that reason is an absolute that permits no compromise--that a concession to the irrational invalidates one's consciousness and turns it from the task of perceiving to the task of faking reality--that the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind--that the acceptance of a mystical invention is a wish for the annihilation of existence and, properly, annihilates one's consciousness. virtue pain man mind good morality reason happiness life philosophy truth wisdom john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism rational think thinking morals values evil Ayn Rand
1fff5a2 We've heard them all talk about Dust, and they're so afraid of it, and you know what? We believed them, even though we could see that what they were doing was wicked and evil and wrong... We thought Dust must be bad too, because they were grown up and they said so. But what if it isn't? What if it's--' She said breathlessly, 'Yeah! What if it's really good... good-and-evil good original-sin evil sin Philip Pullman
96fd4c2 Just because something isn't good doesn't mean it's bad. good life truth misunderstood spooky depth book literary ethics characters crime lonely sad novel evil Rebecca McNutt
9c425e3 Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action. If an organism fails in that action, it dies...It is only the concept of 'Life' that makes the concept of 'Value' possible. It is only to a living entity that things can be good or evil. virtue man mind good morality reason life philosophy john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism think thinking morals values evil Ayn Rand
5dd0bf2 Love is the opposite of good sense. good heart love oppsoite sense Marjane Satrapi
71a77a3 You think if someone does a brave deed quite suddenly, then he or she could never do a mean one? You are wrong. We all have good and bad in us, and we have to strive all the time to make the good cancel out the bad. We can never be perfect - we all of us do mean or wrong things at times - but we can at least make amends by trying to cancel out the wrong by doing something worthy later on. good bravery inspirational Enid Blyton
6f0983f One must not make too much of anything in life, good or bad. good life wisdom experience Joseph Conrad
c433a6c I am not scoffing at goodness, which is far more difficult to explain than evil, and just as complicated. But sometimes it's hard to put up with. good Margaret Atwood
3a7aba7 Truth is neither joyful nor sad, neither good nor bad. It is simply truth. good joy truth sad Robert Ludlum
9c0cf9f "You should marry me", he said. "I will be good to you. I am not like these men. I have manners. You would see how kind I would be. I would never leave you. You could have an easy life." men good love few-good-men never-leave not-like-the-others marry manners sincere kind like promise Larry McMurtry
3d1c64a "happiness is a choice. If you choose to mope and be glum, you shall be; but if you wish to be happy and determine to enjoy what life has to offer, then you can have that as well. "She said that nothing is all good or all bad, that life offers everyone a mix of both--though sometimes it does not seem so, and bad is all we can see in our lives, while in the lives of others we see only good and feel envy. She said we must enjoy the good despite the bad, else life can beat us down and leave us hopeless, and that is no way to live." good happiness life envy Lynsay Sands
391509e "Pope Alexander smiled. He seemed more amused with the story than horrified. "The Baglioni are true believers," he said. "They believe in paradise. Such a great gift. How otherwise can man bear this moral life? Unfortunately, such a belief also gives evil men the courage to commit great crimes in the name of good and God." good god moral-life mario-puzo borgias gift paradise evil Mario Puzo
fea7dbf Much that may seem evil can be good. good George R.R. Martin
9fa5020 If I beat my grandmother to death to-morrow in the middle of Battersea Park, you may be perfectly certain that people will say everything about it except the simple and fairly obvious fact that it is wrong. Some will call it insane; that is, will accuse it of a deficiency of intelligence. This is not necessarily true at all. You could not tell whether the act was unintelligent or not unless you knew my grandmother. Some will call it vulgar, disgusting, and the rest of it; that is, they will accuse it of a lack of manners. Perhaps it does show a lack of manners; but this is scarcely its most serious disadvantage. Others will talk about the loathsome spectacle and the revolting scene; that is, they will accuse it of a deficiency of art, or aesthetic beauty. This again depends on the circumstances: in order to be quite certain that the appearance of the old lady has definitely deteriorated under the process of being beaten to death, it is necessary for the philosophical critic to be quite certain how ugly she was before. Another school of thinkers will say that the action is lacking in efficiency: that it is an uneconomic waste of a good grandmother. But that could only depend on the value, which is again an individual matter. The only real point that is worth mentioning is that the action is wicked, because your grandmother has a right not to be beaten to death. But of this simple moral explanation modern journalism has, as I say, a standing fear. It will call the action anything else--mad, bestial, vulgar, idiotic, rather than call it sinful. good death efficiency journalism manners insanity evil G.K. Chesterton
aa5fff8 "Love of God," he said slowly, searching for words, "is not always the same as love of good, I wish it were that simple. We know what is good, it is written in the Commandments. But God is not contained only in the Commandments, you know; they are only an good love infinitesimal ten-commandments narcissus Hermann Hesse
ef74bb9 They will say that the Universe has no purpose and no plan, that since a hundred suns explode every year in our Galaxy, at this very moment some race is dying in the depths of space. Whether that race has done good or evil during its lifetime will make no difference in the end: there is no divine justice, for there is no God. universe good god galaxy space sun race justice evil Arthur C. Clarke
e6077ff "I did," Henric said, with a triumphant look. "Oh," Meena said, opening the book to the page 74, the one from her dream. "You mean this prince?" She pointed at the illustration of Lucifer. Henric's grin faltered slightly. "Precisely." "He's not a prince," Meena said. "As you know perfectly well, he's a fallen angel. And what was Lucien's mother?" "A p-princess," Henric stammered. But there was terror in his eyes. "No," Lucien said, shaking his head. "She was an angel." Meena swung around to look at him. Tears glittered in her eyes as she gazed up into his, which had gone back to their normal deep brown. "Yes, Lucien," she said, holding the book open in front of him. "That's why Henric was trying to keep this from you. Because he realized it was the one thing that might help you remember what your mother always taught you. You, of all people, really do have a choice. You can choose to be good . . . because you are part good. No matter how hard you try to be the devil's son, you've still got an angel for a mother." good lucifer lucien-antonescu meena demons Meg Cabot
9dc2c37 The same virtues, in the end, the same virtue (love), are required throughout, and fantasy (self) can prevent us from seeing a blade of grass just as it can prevent us from seeing another person. An increasing awareness of 'goods' and the attempt (usually only partially successful) to attend to them purely, without self, brings with it an increasing awareness of the unity and interdependence of the moral world. One-seeking intelligence is the image of faith. unity illusion good fantasy love self vision intellect Iris Murdoch
2c24070 The self, the place where we live, is a place of illusion. Goodness is connected with the attempt to see the unself, to see and to respond to the real world in the light of a virtuous consciousness. This is the non-metaphysical meaning of the idea of transcendence to which philosophers have so constantly resorted in their explanations of goodness. 'Good is a transcendent reality' means that virtue is the attempt to pierce the veil of selfish consciousness and join the world as it really is. It is an empirical fact about human nature that this attempt cannot be entirely successful. illusion good real transcendence human-nature Iris Murdoch
55b408f "I can see why some people become "beach bunnies": you don't have to think about things or even talk when you're on the beach. You just sit here and feel good about being alive." good beach beach-bunnies feel think talk Jennifer Allison
d36b769 "Do good though, will you?" She blinked brightly at the green girl. "If not for your parents or your grandmother, then for me?" good glinda Gregory Maguire
d1563b4 Some people spend their whole lives in a fantasy world, and that's not a good thing! good world imagination fantasy fantasy-world recluse mental-illness psychology Rebecca McNutt
c8913aa In some ways, it was far easier to be bad than good. When you're bad, you don't care what happens to anyone other than yourself. When you're trying to do god, you have to worry about everyone. good bad David Baldacci
0cae2b5 Since evil is nothing positive, there can be no principle of evil. It has no meaning expect in reference to something good. good Fulton J. Sheen
f1b6515 "Wait and wonder when we will return, mouse - then you will really see what a battle is like." Simeon turned his head in the direction of Graypatch's voice. "Alas, I will never see anything for I am blind; but I can sense a lot. I can feel you are both evil and desperate. They say you have only one eye. I am surprised at you--even a fool with half an eye could see that you will never triumph against good if you are evil." good-and-evil good redwall Brian Jacques
adfc118 Like it or not, we either add to the darkness of indifference and out-and-out evil which surround us or we light a candle to see by. We can surely no longer pretend that our children are growing up into a peaceful, secure, and civilized world. We've come to the point where it's irresponsible to try to protect them from the irrational world they will have to live in when they grow up.... Our responsibility to them is not to pretend that if we don't look, evil will go away, but to give them weapons against it. good light inspiration darkness raising-children growing-up evil Madeleine L'Engle
2d9b799 "Act'. How many good people do you really know? I discount those who mouth out platitudes for the edification of the young, and who truly are 'good', whatever that means?" What a strange subject, and from such a strange person!"Everyone I know is a mixture, some with more good than bad, and it varies on different days," good beauty flauvic-acting princess-elestra Sherwood Smith
46d77a7 Isn't there in every human soul...an initial spark, a divine element, incorruptible in this world, immortal in the next, that good can bring out, prime, ignite, set on fire and cause to blaze splendidly, and that evil can never extinguish? good-and-evil good souls Victor Hugo
eb849d5 Artists are indeed unlikely to be good, goodness would silence them. good morality Iris Murdoch
0594adb "Shergahn and friend lay like poleaxed steers, and the Daranfelian's greasy hair was thick with potatoes, carrots, gravy, and chunks of beef. His companion had less stew in his hair, but an equally large lump was rising fast, and Brandark flipped his improvised club into the air, caught it in proper dipping position, and filled it once more from the pot without even glancing at them. He raised the ladle to his nose, inhaled deeply, and glanced at the cook with an impudent twitch of his ears. "Smells delicious," he said while the laughter started up all around the fire. "I imagine a bellyful of this should help a hungry man sleep. Why, just look what a single ladle of it did for Shergahn!" laughter sleep good humorous defeat funny humor lump steer yummy stew triumph delicious shame bully food David Weber
44c34d0 "Everyone," Caitlin said, cradling her wine glass, "is the hero of his own story. That goes double for fanatics. Some of the greatest horrors in history were perpetrated by people who insisted, all the way to damnation's door, that they fought on the side of the angels." heroes history good Craig Schaefer
6f63b6c [W]hen one's young, it seems very easy to distinguish between right and wrong, but as one gets older it becomes more difficult. At school it's easy to pick out one's own villains and heroes and one grows up wanting to be a hero and kill the villains. heroes good youth villains Ian Fleming
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