Katherine Anne Porter Quotes

If we say yes to something we believe is wrong now, what guarantee is there that the wrong will not be further exacerbated down the line?

People love talking about the banality of evil and the fact that ordinary people do bad things. I actually want to stay away from that.

To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as morals.

Intentions don't matter. It's the end result we're all judged by. Evil in the name of good is still evil. And when you dance with the devil, you seldom get to pick the tune.

The worst crimes are not committed by evil degenerates, but by decent and intelligent people taking 'pragmatic' decisions.

You cannot cure a lesser evil by a greater evil.

There's strong data that, within companies, the No. 1 reason for ethical violations is the pressure to meet expectations, sometimes unrealistic expectations.

It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good.

Evil is wrought by want of thought

I think it less evil that some criminals should escape than that the government should play an ignoble part.

My general philosophy of playing bad guys, which I've sort of done, you know, half the time is, you know, very few people who we view as bad guys get out of bed and think, 'What evil, terrible thing am I going to do today?' Most people see their motivations as justified - as, you know, justifying whatever they do.

Journalists grow accustomed to seeing evil and they let it pass; they proceed to approve it, and they end by committing it themselves.

Government is essentially immoral. The State employs evil weapons to subjugate evil, and is alike contaminated by the objects with which it deals, and the means by which it works.

Those who won't accept evil never get anything good.

All writers on the science of policy are agreed, and they agree with experience, that all governments must frequently infringe the rules of justice to support themselves; that truth must give way to dissimulation, honesty to convenience, and humanity itself to the reigning of interest. The whole of this mystery of iniquity is called the reason of state.

There is a gambling element to being somebody who is going to take on the job of constantly trying to represent and prop up people who might be somewhat shady. That notion is probably part of how they got the rap. But, I have to find the balance of being colorful, being at times despicable, and also being somebody who does believe in something.

The moment one begins to solder right and wrong together, one's conscience becomes like a piece of plated goods.

Evil can do anything, for a price.

Degrees do not matter... one does not bargain about inches of evil.

The lesser evil is also evil.

practically nothing we do ever stands by itself. If it is good, it will serve some good purpose in the future. If it is evil, it may haunt us and handicap our efforts in unimagined ways.

There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost everything, especially of government policy, is an inseparable compound of the two, so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.

Still it might be nice, once in a while, not to have to choose between evils. Just once, couldn't I choose the lesser good?

The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.

Half of the results of a good intentions are evil; half the results of an evil intention are good.