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Good quotes

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

“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

“Men always love what is good or what they find good; it is in judging what is good that they go wrong.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so: to me it is a prison.” William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” - 1623

“Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt.” William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure” - 1623

“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

“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

“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

“I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.” Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations” - 1776

“Hence it is evident that the good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.” Aristotle, “Politics”

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

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

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

“He saw that nothing was good and nothing was evil; things were merely adapted to an end.” W. Somerset Maugham, “Of Human Bondage” - 1915

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

“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

“What is a good man but a bad man's teacher? What is a bad man but a good man's job?” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“Some have little power to do good, and have likewise little strength to resist evil.” Samuel Johnson, “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia” - 1759

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

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

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

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

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

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

“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

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

“By that sin fell the angels.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VIII” - 1623

“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

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

“If you don’t live a life in service of a greater good, you’ve gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know?” John Green, “The Fault in Our Stars” - 2012

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“You can do as you please, but I shall keep my book on the table here and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good and help me through the day.” Louisa May Alcott, “Little Women” - 1868

“The part of philanthropist is indeed a dangerous one; and the man who would do his neighbour good must first study how not to do him evil, and must begin by pulling the beam out of his own eye.” George MacDonald, “Lilith” - 1895

“Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil.” George MacDonald, “Lilith” - 1895

“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

“Oz had not kept the promise he made her, but he had done his best, so she forgave him. As he said, he was a good man, even if he was a bad Wizard.” L. Frank Baum, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” - 1900

“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

“For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.” Walter Scott, “Ivanhoe” - 1820

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

“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

“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

“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

“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

Related topics

evil bad life power love right men death understanding belief praise strength women wisdom doubt courage reason truth fear modesty

Related authors

William Shakespeare (8)
Henry David Thoreau (3)
Confucius (3)
Marcus Aurelius (3)
Muhammad Ali (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)
J. K. Rowling (1)
George Orwell (1)
John Green (1)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1)
Charles Darwin (1)

Related sources

Civil Disobedience (3)
Analects (3)
Meditations (3)
The Merchant of Venice (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)
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)
Henry VIII (1)
The Old Man and the Sea (1)