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The difficulty is old, but none the less real. An omnipotent being who created a world containing evil not due to sin must Himself be at least partially evil.


Bertrand Russell

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JOSEPH RATZINGER He fashions evil for himself who does evil to another, and an evil plan does mischief to the planner...
HESIOD Evil is a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity: it existed bef...
MARQUIS DE SADE All that alcohol does for them is to liberate the sense of sin, which reason suppresses in saner mom...
BERTRAND RUSSELL A politician who has no compassion is nothing but an evil apparition; he is just a ghost, not a real...
MEHMET MURAT ILDAN Old enemies must be friends when a greater evil looms.
RAYMOND E. FEIST When evil acts in the world it always manages to find instruments who believe that what they do is n...
MAX LERNER Commemoration of Samuel Seabury, First Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796 Here you have the...
WILLIAM LAW Each religion claims the future for its followers; or, at least, the good thereof. The evil is for t...
H. RIDER HAGGARD Evil is always possible. Goodness is a difficulty.
ANNE RICE Evil is always possible. Goodness is a difficulty.
ANNE RICE 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 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. Do not be disturbed or angered at another's sin or evil, rather, spiritually help the one who has si...
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI (EARLIER RULE 5) Man must vanquish himself, must do himself violence, in order to perform the slightest action untain...
E. M. CIORAN Man must vanquish himself, must do himself violence, in order to perform the slightest action untain...
EMILE M. CIORAN I have also seen children successfully surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due t...
MAHATMA GANDHI In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic...
WILLIAM BERNBACH Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing...
EPICURUS A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little...
C. H. (CHARLES HADDON) SPURGEON A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little...
CHARLES H. SPURGEON A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little...
CHARLES SPURGEON I have in later years taken to Euclid, Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, in an elemental way.
CARL SANDBERG I have in later years taken to Euclid, Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, in an elemental way.
CARL SANDBURG The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral ev...
CHARLES TREVELYAN We Christian writers must paint evil with the blackest of brushes, not to sow fear, but to call out ...
TED DEKKER The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divi...
RAMANA MAHARSHI Knowledge can always be used for good and evil, but to deny it altogether is the ultimate sin
DANIELLE TORGERSEN It is a sin to believe in the evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
H. L. MENCKEN Evil is neither suffering nor sin; it is both at the same time, it is something common to them both....
SIMONE WEIL Deeds done with a sense of righteousness do not give an opportunity for sin to breed and consequentl...
RIG VEDA Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968 While extremely sensitive as to the...
FRANÇOIS DE SALES 1) There exist instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have preve...
WILLIAM L. ROWE It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
H. L. MENCKEN It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN It is a sin to believe evil of others but it is seldom a mistake.
GARRISON KEILLOR A god who created man "after his own image", and still the origin of evil in man is not accredited t...
JOHANN MOST For an evil act committed in the world does not bear fruit at once, like a cow.
FRIEDRICH MAX MULLER Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not w...
EPICURUS Though they, blinded by greed, do not see evil in the destruction of the family, or sin in being tre...
BHAGAVAD GITA The fundamental evil of the world arose from the fact that the good Lord has not created money enoug...
HEINRICH HEINE It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil a...
MARGARET MEAD In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the e...
WILLIAM BERNBACH The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well w...
C.S. LEWIS For, were it not good that evil things should also exist, the omnipotent God would almost certainly ...
SAINT AUGUSTINE Since boredom advances and boredom is the root of all evil, no wonder, then, that the world goes bac...
SOREN KIERKEGAARD A cultivated style would be like a mask. Everybody knows it's a mask, and sooner or later you must s...
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER It will never do to plead sin as an excuse for sin, or to attempt to justify sinful acts by pleading...
ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER The Soviet Union is an Evil Empire, and Soviet communism is the focus of evil in the modern world
RONALD REAGAN America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil before the settlers, before the Indians. T...
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil before the settlers, before the Indians. ...
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS Marriage, if one will face the truth, is an evil, but a necessary evil.
MENANDER Today's man of the world proclaims that sin, and his enterprising in sin, are a part of modern l...
MOTHER ANGELICA The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not,or, being willing to do so, cannot;or...
EPICURUS The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on a...
ALBERT EINSTEIN The evil that men do leads after them, but the evil that women do surprises the devil himself.
THE INSPIRATIONIST You or I might think that at least one would show courage and put up a fight. But neither you nor I ...
ROBERT FANNEY Evildoers delight in hiding themselves; shun appearing; are bewildered when discovered; being accuse...
TERTULLIAN Evil exists to glorify the good. Evil is negative good. It is a relative term. Evil can be transmute...
MENCIUS I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil
VOLTAIRE Evil be to him who evil thinks.
EDWARD II I've spent a life-time attacking religious beliefs and have not wavered from a view of the universe ...
PHILLIP ADAMS Every form, not being the whole, must, of necessity, be imperfect; less than the whole, it cannot be...
ANNIE BESANT Riches cannot be gathered without sin and evil means.
GURU NANAK He who does evil to others, does it to himself.
TURKISH PROVERB If the guilt of sin is so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood of Jesus; and the filth of...
WILLIAM THROSBY BRIDGES If the guilt of sin is so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood of Jesus; and the filth of...
WILLIAM BRIDGES The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people wh...
ALBERT EINSTEIN The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the p...
ALBERT EINSTEIN The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the p...
ALBERT EINSTEIN The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the ...
ALBERT EINSTEIN If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and b...
HERMAN HESSE He who searches for evil, must first look at his own reflection.
CONFUCIUS One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he...
MAIMONIDES Evil gives you far more strings to pull. But I must say that I have never been interested in the psy...
LARS VON TRIER The world is evil only when you become its slave.
HENRI J.M. NOUWEN I remember the philosopher Bertrand Russell was asked why he spent his time protesting against nucle...
CHOMSKY NOAM Kira is evil ... There's no denying that ... But lately I've been starting to think of it more like ...
TSUGUMI OHBA If it be an evil to judge rashly or untruly any single man, how much a greater sin it is to condemn ...
WILLIAM PENN Justice must never mirror evil, Justice must always be a mirror for Evil so that all may see.
AHMAD RAGAB Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
BIBLE The world won't be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anythin...
ALBERT EINSTEIN Lord Manu had said it's not people who are evil. True evil exists beyond them. It attracts people. I...
AMISH TRIPATHI In this Western point of view, evil and sin were negative qualities; they arose from the absence of ...
CARROLL QUIGLEY There is a good principle which created order, light, and man, and an evil principle which created c...
PYTHAGORAS He harms himself who does harm to another, and the evil plan is most harmful to the planner.
HESIOD Accepting evil is worse than committing evil. You must – I repeat – you must, as a human being, ...
ABHIJIT NASKAR Must I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it...
MAHATMA GANDHI I think what's exciting about playing a villain - particularly a villain who's totally unapo...
BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD You must recognize that the way to get the good out of your brother and your sister is not to return...
LOUIS FARRAKHAN For a young person, it is almost a sin, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself; bu...
CARL JUNG An orator who is disposed to evil subverts the law.
SOURCE UNKNOWN The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the p...
ALBERT EINSTEIN There is an old illusion. It is called good and evil.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE There is an old illusion-it is called good and evil.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Although God loves us unconditionally, He does get angry at sin, wickedness and evil. But He is not ...
JOYCE MEYER Just as I’ve always known there are monsters in the world, monsters and things even more evil, I�...
PATRICIA BRIGGS If you have to write a fictional adventure to convey a philosophy of evil, the best person is the de...
AMISH TRIPATHI

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BERTRAND RUSSELL [T]he infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they inven...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Love can flourish only as long as it is free and spontaneous; it tends to be killed by the thought o...
BERTRAND RUSSELL So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.
BERTRAND RUSSELL There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate gov...
BERTRAND RUSSELL The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays ...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most boys and girls. It involves no effort of ...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.
BERTRAND RUSSELL This is patently absurd; but whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened ...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape f...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt ...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can ...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying t...
BERTRAND RUSSELL I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
BERTRAND RUSSELL The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and...
BERTRAND RUSSELL War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
BERTRAND RUSSELL Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface rela...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don't know.
BERTRAND RUSSELL The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
BERTRAND RUSSELL Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
BERTRAND RUSSELL Admiration of the proletariat, like that of dams, power stations, and aeroplanes, is part of the ide...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with o...
BERTRAND RUSSELL It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which...
BERTRAND RUSSELL Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the i...
BERTRAND RUSSELL The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts.
BERTRAND RUSSELL Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not reg...
BERTRAND RUSSELL