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Good quotes

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“Man selects only for his own good; Nature only for that of the being which she tends.” Charles Darwin, “On The Origin of Species” - 1859

“There is an old illusion—it is called good and evil.” Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” - 1891

“I try not to speak about the charities and people I help, because I believe we can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return.” Muhammad Ali, “The Soul of a Butterfly” - 2004

“would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Crime and Punishment” - 1867

“So little knows any, but God alone, to value right the good before him, but perverts best things to worst abuse, or to their meanest use.” John Milton, “Paradise Lost” - 1667

“That's one thing Earthlings might leam to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.” Kurt Vonnegut, “Slaughterhouse-Five” - 1969

“If one good deed in all my life I did, I do repent it from my very soul.” William Shakespeare, “Titus Andronicus” - 1594

“Life wasn't made to be easy on folks: they wouldn't ever have any reason to be good and die.” William Faulkner, “As I Lay Dying” - 1930

“The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Compensation” - 1841

“He went to the deuce for a woman. There must be good in a man who will do that.” William Makepeace Thackeray, “Vanity Fair” - 1847

“Segregation is that which is forced upon inferiors by superiors. But separation is that which is done voluntarily, by two equals—for the good of both!” Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” - 1965

“OPTIMISM, n. The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong.” Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil's Dictionary” - 1911

“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice” - 1600

“The power to do good is also the power to do harm; those who control the power today may not tomorrow; and, more important, what one man regards as good, another may regard as harm.” Milton Friedman, “Capitalism and Freedom” - 1962

“For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“It's so hard to know what to do when one wishes earnestly to do right.” George Bernard Shaw, “Man and Superman” - 1903

“all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.” Robert Louis Stevenson, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” - 1886

“Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most good for the most people?” Muhammad Ali, “The Soul of a Butterfly” - 2004

“It is easy enough to do good once or twice, but to keep on doing good without getting disgusted with the ingratitude of those whom we have benefited, that is not so easy.” Martin Luther, “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians” - 1535

“If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.” Baruch Spinoza, “Ethics” - 1677

“Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings, who think themselves good because they have crippled paws!” Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” - 1891

“I would we were all of one mind, and one mind good.” William Shakespeare, “Cymbeline” - 1623

“there are people who'll try to hurt you through the good they see in you—knowing that it's the good, needing it and punishing you for it.” Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged” - 1957

“What is morality? . . . Judgment to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.” Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged” - 1957

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.” Confucius, “Analects”

“Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Two Towers” - 1954

“Neither worse then nor better is a thing made by being praised.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“War is war. The only good human being is a dead one.” George Orwell, “Animal Farm” - 1945

“The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” William Shakespeare, “All's Well That Ends Well” - 1623

“To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect and their oneness, and should insist upon choosing as their representatives only such persons as are good and true.” Mahatma Gandhi, “The Story of my Experiments with Truth” - 1929

“Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“For the function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil; whereas, inasmuch as all things morally wrong are evil, trickery prefers the evil to the good.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, “On Duties” - 44 BC

“Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“The success of our economy has always depended, not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity, on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart, not out of charity, but because it is the surest...” Barack Obama, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 2009

“Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good.” Confucius, “Analects”

“The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call...” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole, men are more good than bad; that, however, isn't the real point.” Albert Camus, “The Plague” - 1947

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” - 1997

“There was neither good nor bad there. There were just facts. It was life.” W. Somerset Maugham, “Of Human Bondage” - 1915

“To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.” Confucius, “Analects”

“I have been wicked in my day, but I never thought a little girl like you would ever be able to melt me and end my wicked deeds.” L. Frank Baum, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” - 1900

“I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“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.” Woody Allen, “Side Effects” - 1980

“There is no vice so simple but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts.” William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice” - 1600

“A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.” George R. R. Martin, “A Clash of Kings” - 1999

“He did not say that because he knew that if you said a good thing it might not happen.” Ernest Hemingway, “The Old Man and the Sea” - 1952

“It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” - 1997

“The only objects of practical reason are therefore those of good and evil. For by the former is meant an object necessarily desired according to a principle of reason; by the latter one necessarily shunned, also according to a principle of reason.” Immanuel Kant, “Critique of Practical Reason” - 1788

Related topics

evil bad power life right love men death happiness understanding belief praise morality day sweetness strength women wisdom doubt courage

Related authors

William Shakespeare (8)
Henry David Thoreau (3)
Confucius (3)
Marcus Aurelius (3)
J. K. Rowling (2)
Muhammad Ali (2)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2)
Ayn Rand (2)
Aristotle (2)
George MacDonald (2)
L. Frank Baum (2)
Friedrich Nietzsche (2)
W. Somerset Maugham (2)
Jane Austen (1)
William Makepeace Thackeray (1)
George Bernard Shaw (1)
Ernest Hemingway (1)
William Faulkner (1)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Charlotte Brontë (1)

Related sources

Civil Disobedience (3)
Analects (3)
Meditations (3)
The Merchant of Venice (2)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2)
The Soul of a Butterfly (2)
Politics (2)
Lilith (2)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (2)
Of Human Bondage (2)
Atlas Shrugged (2)
Hamlet (1)
All's Well That Ends Well (1)
Vanity Fair (1)
Man and Superman (1)
As I Lay Dying (1)
Measure for Measure (1)
Cymbeline (1)
Titus Andronicus (1)

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