William Wordsworth Quotes

Wisdom is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

Nobody's born evil. I guess that's why we're drawn to violence. We're fascinated by it, but there's a moral in how you examine it.

Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two.

I'm not an evil person. Nobody's really evil.

We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.

The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.

Although modesty is natural to man, it is not natural to children. Modesty only begins with the knowledge of evil.

I feel it's in people's nature to want to stop evil and embrace the good.

There is good and there is bad in every human heart, and it is the struggle of life to conquer the bad with the good.

The natural desire of good men is knowledge.

I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite.

To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom.

Clever men are good, but they are not the best.

I suspect that here theists and atheists would agree: Human beings have within them the ability to choose evil or good. We wake up each day facing the age-old struggle of good and evil. In some situations, mental illness clouds our judgment.

There is one thing that is only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance.

All my books are an inquiry into the nature of evil. Why do good people do bad things? Are any human beings completely evil? Do we all have good within us? That's what I'm interested in.

Human beings are capable of great good, but also of the basest evil.

Sometimes a tree tells you more than can be read in books.

In the world of knowledge, the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with effort.

Evil is not a thing. It cannot take possession of you. It's the opposite; it's a void, an absence of goodness. The only thing you can be frightened of here is yourself.

Auguries of innocence "The emmet's inch and eagle's mile Make lame philosophy to smile. He who doubts from what he sees Will ne'er believe, do what you please.

Nature and wisdom always say the same.

Listen to no one's advice except that of the wind in the trees. That can recount the whole history of mankind.