Men never do evil so fully and so happily as when they do it for conscience’s sake. Blaise Pascal
It is by its promise of an occult sense of power that evil often attracts the weak. Eric Hoffer
When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before. Mae West
There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle. Robert Alden
The fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil. Hannah Arendt
They that know no evil will suspect none. Ben Jonson
Evil, what is evil? There is only one evil, to deny life. D H Lawrence
Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty. Simone Weil
Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance. Cardinal Newman
All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil. Percy Bysshe Shelley
No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
All evil is like a nightmare; the instant you stir under it, the evil is gone. Thomas Carlyle
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke
The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good. John Locke
Of two evils, the less is always to be chosen. Thomas a Kempis
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Never let a man imagine that he can pursue a good end by evil means, without sinning against his own soul. The evil effect on himself is certain. Robert Southey
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. Joseph Conrad
Evil often triumphs, but never conquers. Joseph Roux
To live without evil belongs only to the gods. Sophocles
There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole of life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity. Nathaniel Hawthorne