Simon Wiesenthal Quotes

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

Undoubtedly, to salve your conscience, you have now and then helped some miserable human being, but millions of human beings were murdered and nary a protest was heard.

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

Evil prospers when good men do nothing.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

Tolerating evil leads only to more evil. And when good people stand by and do nothing while wickedness reigns, their communities will be consumed.

For evil to take place, the acts of a few people are not sufficient; the great majority also has to remain indifferent.

The real problem is not the bad guys; it is that good guys have gone to sleep.

Evil prevails when good people do nothing.

The worst thing of all is standing by when folks are doing something wrong.

I went to my son's graduation this weekend, and I heard a great quote I've never heard before from Albert Einstein. It was that the greatest danger to the world is not the bad people but it's the good people who don't speak out.

So many people witness atrocities and can't take their eyes away from them, but that doesn't mean they're good.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

I have no love for those who consider themselves 'good people' but stand idly by as the world crumbles around them. It's not enough to personally not do damage. If you're present as someone else destroys what's around you and you do nothing, you helped them.

It's indifference and ignorance that stops people from doing the right thing.

Passivity is a tacit endorsement of evil we are too afraid to oppose actively.

A time comes when silence is betrayal.

Perhaps the worst sin in life is knowing right and not doing it.

I make little distinction between those who commit evil and those who stand by and do nothing.

Passivity is the same as defending injustice.

When evil men destroy, good men must build and bind.