Necessary Evil Quotes

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  Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

  Thomas Paine

  Motivation, War, 4th Of July

  Common Sense (1776)

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• It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good.

  Margaret Mead

  Honesty, Acceptance, Evil

  Margaret Mead, Rhoda Bubendey Métraux (1979). “Margaret Mead, some personal views”, Angus & Robertson

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• 

  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

  Peace, Integrity, Patriotic

  "The Harper Book of Quotations Revised Edition". Book by Robert I. Fitzhenry, p. 356, 1993.

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• War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

  Jimmy Carter

  Inspirational, Veterans Day, Peace

  Mattie J.T. Stepanek, Jimmy Carter (2009). “Just Peace: A Message of Hope”, p.158, Andrews McMeel Publishing

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• 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?

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  Inspirational, Heart, Cutting

  "The Gulag Archipelago". Book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1974.

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• Do not let us mistake necessary evils for good.

  C. S. Lewis

  Mistake, Evil

  C. S. Lewis (1984). “The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis”, p.209, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• For centuries the leaders of Christian thought spoke of women as a necessary evil, and the greatest saints of the Church are those who despise women the most.

  Annie Besant

  Christian, Evil, Leader

  Annie Besant (2012). “Christianity: Its Evidences, Its Origin, Its Morality, Its History”, p.200, Jazzybee Verlag

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• Dialogue is a necessary evil.

  Fred Zinnemann

  Writing, Evil, Dialogue

  47 Copy quote
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  There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

  Andrew Jackson

  Patriotic, Government, Evil

  Veto Message on Bank Bill, 10 July 1832

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• The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.

  Hannah Arendt

  Inspirational, Peace, Emo

  "The Life of the Mind". Book by Hannah Arendt. Chapter: "Thinking", 1978.

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• If only it were all so simple! 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?

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  Wisdom, Peace, Fun

  "The Gulag Archipelago". Book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1973.

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• Controversy, though always an evil in itself, is sometimes a necessary evil.

  Richard Whately

  Evil, Sometimes, Controversy

  Richard Whately (1856). “Thoughts and Apophthegms: From the Writings of Archbishop Whateley”, p.92

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  The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

  Edmund Burke

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Witty

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• The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

  Plato

  Plato, Freedom, Men

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• Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.

  Mark Twain

  Funny, Work, Evil

  Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.45, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.

  Thomas Paine

  Wisdom, Country, Mean

  Thomas Paine (2017). “Common Sense & The Rights of Man - The Voice of the American Revolution: Words of a Visionary That Sparked the Revolution and Remained the Core of American Democratic Principles”, p.4, Madison & Adams Press

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• Marriage, if one will face the truth, is an evil, but a necessary evil.

  Menander

  Evil, Faces, Truth Is

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• A baseball manager is a necessary evil.

  Sparky Anderson

  Baseball, Evil, Sports Psychology

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• The mediation by the serpent was necessary. Evil can seduce man, but cannot become man.

  Franz Kafka

  Men, Evil, Literature

  Franz Kafka (1954). “Wedding preparations in the country: and other posthumous prose writings. With notes by Max Brod”

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• The world is the best of all possible worlds, and everything in it is a necessary evil.

  F. H. Bradley

  Evil, Optimism, World

  'Appearance and Reality' (1893) preface (on optimism)

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• Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile.

  Christy Mathewson

  Sports, Baseball, Umpires

  Christy Mathewson (2013). “Pitching in a Pinch: Baseball from the Inside”, p.76, Penguin

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• Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.

  Percy Bysshe Shelley

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  Percy Bysshe Shelley, Richard Herne Shepherd (1810). “The Prose Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley ... Ed. ... by Richard Herne Shepherd”, p.244

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• Politics is a way of ruling in divided societies without undue violence...politics is not just a necessary evil; it is a realistic good.

  Bernard Crick

  Evil, Political, Politics

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• There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.

  Andrew Jackson

  Rain, 4th Of July, Blessing

  Veto Message on Bank Bill, 10 July 1832

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• THE TEACHER AS A NECESSARY EVIL. Let us have as few people as possible between the productive minds and the hungry and recipient minds! The middlemen almost unconsciously adulterate the food which they supply. It is because of teachers that so little is learned, and that so badly.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Teacher, Educational, People

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