Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
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.
It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good.
We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.
Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.
A baseball manager is a necessary evil.
The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.
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.
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
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?
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?
Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
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.
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.
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings.
There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.
Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
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.
or simply: