Get philosophical and think deeply as you check out these good versus evil quotes.

Let us know which quote resonated the most with you in the comment section below.

An archetype is a very typical example of a certain person or thing.

It is a symbol or motif that shows up often in art, movies, music, or literature.

The classic good versus evil archetype is one of the oldest in human history.

It pretty much is the foundation for any good story that has ever been told.

However, have you really ever thought about how you define good and evil?

The answers and definitions may be as varied as the people of earth.

What one person believes to be an absolute good, another person may perceive to be an absolute evil.

Hopefully, these good versus evil quotes will give some insight, humor, and food for thought on all the different ways the concept of good versus evil influences our world.

Good and Evil in Humanity Quotes

1. “I don’t think good and evil are polarized.” — Sam Mendes

2. “The power of choosing good and evil is within the reach of all.” — Origen

3. “The first idea the child must acquire is that of the difference between good and evil.” — Maria Montessori

4. “People’s character is their behaviour—we’re all capable of good and evil.” — Bertie Carvel

5. “People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truth and lies.” — Don Miguel Ruiz

6. “The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

7. “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” — Eric Burdon

8. “Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two.” — John Cheever

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

10. “All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

More quotes about both sides of humanity

11. “Everyone spends their lives trying to balance their world between good and evil.” — Laurell K. Hamilton

12. “Mankind is not likely to salvage civilization unless he can evolve a system of good and evil which is independent of heaven and hell.” — George Orwell

13. “Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.” — Eric Hoffer

14. “Even the crudest, most derivative novel is an expression of the author’s hopes and fears and ideas about good and evil.” — Steven Saylor

15. “Everybody has good and bad forces working with them, against them, and within them.” — Suzy Kassem

16. “This is not going to be easy. I’m good at being bad, but I’m bad at being good. I don’t know the first thing about good deeds.” — Neal Shusterman

Good, Evil, and Religion Quotes

17. “Religion as a human phenomenon is as riddled through with potential for both good and evil as any other phenomenon.” — Richard John Neuhaus

18. “If your religion doesn’t teach you the difference between good and evil, your religion is worse than useless.” — Dennis Prager

19. “This is a struggle of good and evil. And we’re the good.” — Howard Dean

20. “If there is no God, the labels ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are merely opinions. They are substitutes for ‘I like it’ and ‘I don’t like it.’ They are not objective realities.” — Dennis Prager

21. “The Book of Revelation is all about the conflict, the contest between the forces of Good and Evil.” — Elaine Pagels

22. “Poor God, how often He is blamed for all the suffering in the world. It’s like praising Satan for allowing all the good that happens.” ― E.A. Bucchianeri

23. “Zoroastrianism is about the opposition of good and evil. For the triumph of good, we have to make a choice. We can enlist on the side of good by prospering, making money and using our wealth to help others.” — Rohinton Mistry

24. “You think that your laws correct evil—they only increase it. There is but one way to end evil – by rendering good for evil to all men without distinction.” ― Leo Tolstoy

Good and Evil in the Universe Quotes

25. “If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between good and evil, is also an illusion.” — Hermann Hesse

26. “It is not true that good can only follow from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true.” — Max Weber

27. “Some things must be good in themselves, else there could be no measure whereby to lay out good and evil.” — Benjamin Whichcote

28. “The failure to readily identify the battle between good and evil is a nagging, ongoing, dangerous pattern that shows no sign of easing up anytime soon.” — Mike Gallagher

29. “There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.” — J. K. Rowling

30. “Evil forges a tornado. But goodness battles in a straight line.” — Caris Roane

31. “There’s only room for one hero in this story—and everyone knows the devil doesn’t get to be the good guy.” — Joe Hill

Good and Evil in Life Quotes

32. “Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.” — Marcus Aurelius

33. “I believe there is meaning in life. I believe there is good and evil.” — Min Jin Lee

34. “I believe you can make forces of good and evil work for you, to get what you want.” — GG Allin

35. “Nature has no principles. She makes no distinction between good and evil.” — Anatole France

36. “Wisdom is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two.” — John Cheever

37. “One that confounds good and evil is an enemy to good.” — Edmund Burke

38. “I want to show people how there are variations and different interpretations of good and evil.” — Hideo Kojima

39. “The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Thought-provoking quotes and good and evil

40. “Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

41. “I’ve learned a lot about good and evil. They are not always what they appear to be.” —Charles Van Doren

42. “The best men are not consistent in good—why should the worst men be consistent in evil?” — Wilkie Collins

43. “I do not believe in the concept of good and evil in my personal life, in the real world. I just don’t believe it. I never try to judge.” — Warren Spector

44. “In my home, life was framed as an epic spiritual battle between good and evil.” — Megan Phelps-Roper

45. “Good and evil do not exist for me anymore. The fear of evil is merely a mass projection here and on Earth.” — Hans Bender

46. “I tend to think that good and evil exist and that the quantity in each of us is unchangeable. The moral character of people is set, fixed until death.” — Michel Houellebecq

47. “Evil cannot and will not be vanquished by evil. Dark will only swallow dark and deepen. The good and the light are the keenest weapons.” ― Nora Roberts

48. “Being against evil doesn’t make you good. Tonight I was against it and then I was evil myself. I could feel it coming just like a tide… I just want to destroy them. But when you start taking pleasure in it you are awfully close to the thing you’re fighting.” ― Ernest Hemingway

Good and Evil in Politics Quotes

49. “I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.” — Margaret Thatcher

50. “Conservatives divide the world in terms of good and evil while liberals do it in terms of the rich and poor.” — Dennis Prager

Are there really good guys and bad guys?

These quotes show us that the concepts of good and evil are incredibly subjective and are heavily influenced by one’s perspective and circumstances.

Rather than get caught up in a moral comparison, perhaps it would be beneficial to understand “good” and “evil” from a mechanical point of view.

Magnets have positive and negative sides, but we rarely associate one side of the magnet with good or the other with evil.

However, we can see that one side of the magnet pulls energy while the other repels energy.

If we see “good” and “evil” as energies, positive and negative, it can change our relationship to how we experience “good” and “evil” in our lives and in our world.

Positive energy integrates, binds, unifies, and makes whole.

Negative energy divides, separates, and breaks apart.

What is evil to one is good to another, so the more we can empathize with the perspective and conditions of others, the more we grow our understanding of good and evil.

Did you have a favorite quote? Let us know in the comments.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil, to one who is striking at the root. — Henry David Thoreau