William James Quotes

Into every soul, however purged and fenced, evil appears to have as much freedom of entrance as God Himself.

I think there's a bit of the devil in everybody. There's a bit of a priest in everybody, too, but I enjoyed playing the devil more. He was more fun.

I find myself evil. I believe in the devil as much as God. You can use either one to get things done.

'Tis no sin to cheat the devil.

An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.

The mediation by the serpent was necessary. Evil can seduce man, but cannot become man.

People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil. I don't know why. No, I do indeed know why. Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.

The devil ain't got no power over me. The devil come, and me shake hands with the devil. Devil have his part to play. Devil's a good friend, too... because when you don't know him, that's the time he can mosh you down.

I don't give the devil credit for creating nothing.

You enter a state of controlled passivity, you relax your grip and accept that even if your declared intention is to justify the ways of God to man, you might end up interesting your readers rather more in Satan.

Evil is always possible. Goodness is a difficulty.

Many have puzzled themselves about the origin of evil. I am content to observe that there is evil, and that there is a way to escape from it, and with this I begin and end.

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.

Oh, I am an angel, though sometimes I wish I was more of a devil.

From the days of Cain and Abel, we know all too well there will always be evil. But that evil shouldn't take away our freedoms.

You've got to walk and talk with God to go to heaven... I have the devil in me! If I didn't have, I'd be Christian!

I don't really believe in evil at all.

If I were God, I would just be up there scratching my head, thinking, 'What the hell am I supposed to do with this?' For everyone helping an old lady across the street, there's someone else bludgeoning a person to death. And sometimes they're the same. How can He separate us all out?

In every man sleeps a prophet, and when he wakes there is a little more evil in the world.

Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.

Mankind fears an evil man but heaven does not.

If our wondrous kindness is evidence for God, is our capacity for great evil proof of the Devil?

God and the Devil are an effort after specialization and the division of labor.

He that falls into sin is a man; that grieves at it, is a saint; that boasteth of it, is a devil.

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains…an unuprooted small corner of evil. Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.