François de La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680
was a French author and moralist
We often do good in order that we may do evil with impunity.
Oscar (Fingall O'Flahertie Wills) Wilde, 1854-1900
was an Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet
Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there.
Edmund Burke, 1729-1797
was an Irish orator, philosopher, and politician
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
was an English poet and playwright
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones.
( “Julius Caesar”, Act 3 scene 2, ca 1599 )
To be good, according to the vulgar standard of goodness, is obviously quite easy. It merely requires a certain amount of sordid terror, a certain lack of imaginative thought, and a certain low passion for middle-class respectability.
It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly.
George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), 1903-1950
was an English essayist, novelist, and satirist
On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time.
Joseph Addison, 1672-1719
was an English essayist, poet, and politician
Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station.
( “Cato, a Tragedy”, 1712 )