History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Martin Luther King, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, 1958
There is no man, good as he may be, who, if all his thoughts and actions were submitted to the scrutiny of the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life. Montaigne aka Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Essais, 1580
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke, attributions & variations; viz cf. John Stuart Mill, address University of St Andrew 1st February, 1867
cf.
Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing. John Stuart Mill, address University of St Andrews 1st February, 1867
Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense,
But good men starve for want of impudence. John Dryden, Constantine the Great
For present joys are more to flesh and blood
Than a dull prospect of a distant good. John Dryden, 1631-1700, The Hind and the Panther
As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly. Samuel Johnson
Man is neither good nor bad; he is born with instincts and abilities. Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850, French novelist
It is always good men who do the most harm in the world. Henry Adams
The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life. Jane Addams
But what is Freedom? Rightly understood,
A universal licence to be good. Hartley Coleridge, Liberty
Fundamentalists long for the return of a more moral America, an America that may never have been. All around them they see what they perceive as declining morality and spirituality. They reason that if humans share ancestry with the other animals, we have no reason to behave as anything other than animals. This view neglects the fact that humans are the only known animals with the ability to contemplate the consequences of their own actions. It also fails to recognize that there is a great deal of good in the world, the nightly news notwithstanding. Crime existed long before the theory of evolution, even before the writing of the Bible, and biologists do not like crime any more than the creationists do. Evolutionary theory is not a license to run amok, and neither is a belief in the literal interpretation of the Bible a guarantor of moral behavior. Tim Berra, Evolution and the Myth of Creationism
The mature man lives quietly, does good privately, takes responsibility for his actions, treats others with friendliness and courtesy, finds mischief boring and avoids it. Without the hidden conspiracy of goodwill, society would not endure an hour. Kenneth Rexroth
The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important aims of philosophy. Voltaire
Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do. Voltaire
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year. Voltaire
The good die young – because they see it’s no use living if you’ve got to be good. John Barrymore
I am good for something! Vincent van Gogh
Remember to be good. Harold Mackay to serial killer son Patrick Mackay
I try to be good. Boardwalk Empire s1e6: Family Limitation, Nucky, HBO 2010
The good guys – they die first. Training Day 2001 starring Denzel Washington & Ethan Hawke & Scott Glenn & Tom Berenger & Harris Yulin & Raymond Barry & Cliff Curtis & Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg & Macy Gray & Charlotte Ayanna & Eva Mendes et al, director Antoine Fuqua, Washington to Hawke
Eric: Good God.
Jack: Is He? Get Carter 1971 starring Michael Caine & Ian Hendry & John Osborne & Britt Ekland & Bryan Mosley & George Sewell & Tony Beckley & Glynn Edwards & Alun Armstrong et al, director Mike Hodges
What happens when people don’t want to be done good to? Ian Hislop’s Age of the Do-Gooders 1/3, BBC 2010
Never try to do good, your Majesty. The Young Victoria 2009 starring Emily Blunt & Rupert Friend & Miranda Richardson & Jim Broadbent & Paul Bettany & Mark Strong & Harriet Walter & Paul Bettany & Thomas Kretschmann & Jesper Christensen et al, director Jean-Marc Vallee, Melbourne
I intend to fight and I want to win. But my priorities are basically to be a good brother and a strong one, and to try to be a good father one day. Mike Tyson
Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere. Mae West
When I’m good I’m very good. But when I’m bad I’m better. Mae West, I’m No Angel, 1933, cited Screen Goddesses: Arena ***** BBC 2012
All human beings ... are commingled out of good and evil. Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
In each of us, two natures are at war – the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer. But in our own hands lies the power to choose – what we want most to be we are. Robert Louis Stevenson
What makes us good or evil? Scientists are daring to investigate this unsettling question. They’re trying to peel back the mask of the psychopathic killer. What separates us from these terrifying people? They are exposing the biology that divides vice from virtue. And what they are finding reveals something about the good and evil in us all. Who or what is evil? Horizon: Are You Good or Evil? BBC 2011
It seems that when we’re confronted with a difficult moral choice we’re confused, distressed. We may not know the right thing to do but we seem to have a moral impulse to try to do good. ibid.
But if 70% [of babies] choose the good guy, that leaves 30% who don’t. So what does that say about those babies? ibid.
Most of us seem to start life with good impulses not bad. The inclination to help each other, to empathise, seems to be built into our brains. We feel distressed when we see someone in pain. But why? ibid.
Oxytocin [hormone] seems to be the key to empathy. ibid.
What does it do to a human if you suppress their own moral instinct? ibid.
What they found is that ... taking away all these ethical parameters was removing something fundamental to their brains. ibid.
It seems our moral instinct cannot be suppressed without paying a heavy price. ibid.
Bob Hare had identified one of the lines that might separate good from evil: it was our emotions; psychopaths simply did not seem to have the feelings of empathy that stop the rest of us from harming. ibid.
It looked like we were getting closer to the signature brain profile of a serial killer. The location of these abnormalities indicated to Jim why psychopaths could be driven towards extreme behaviour. ibid.
It then emerged that just being born with one variant of this gene could also predispose you to violent behaviour. The MAOA gene became known as the warrior gene. ibid.
Whether genes are triggered or not will depend on what happens in your childhood. ibid.
Psychopaths had been adopting a camouflage. ibid.
Corporate culture today seems ideal for the psychopath. ibid.
The verdict has set a powerful precedent; it’s ushering in a brand new era of neuro-law. The new science is starting to explain the basis of good and evil. ibid.
Are we really free to choose at all? ibid.
There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia. Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan