--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The sad truth is that most evil is done…" description: "\"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.\" — Hannah Arendt" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb1/hannah-arendt-610_evil_the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done_453413.jpg" --- # The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who… ![“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb1/hannah-arendt-610_evil_the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done_453413.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb1/hannah-arendt-610_evil_the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done_453413.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb1/hannah-arendt-610_evil_the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done_453413.jpg) > “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. It asserts that moral indecision leads to evil, as people who never choose to be good or evil become complicit in wrongdoing. **In simple terms:** Indecision fuels evil. Key Takeaway Take a clear moral stance. Themes ethics philosophy human nature responsibility Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - personal decision-making - political leadership - social activism Key Concepts moral choice passivity evil dynamics Questions to Reflect On - What prevents people from choosing a side? - How can societies encourage moral clarity? A Different Perspective Indecision can be rationalized as neutrality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Evil people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil-people/) [Good evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-evil/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Sad truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sad-truth/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-evil-857353/) ## Related quotes > [Promises are the uniquely human way of orderin The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/promises-are-the-uniquely-human-way-of-orderin-the-sad-truth-is-that/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [In the struggle of good against evil, it's always the people who get killed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-galeano/in-the-struggle-of-good-against-evil-it-s-always-the-people-who-get/) [Eduardo Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-galeano/) > [The question why there is evil in existence is the same as why there is imperfection... But this is the real question we ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/the-question-why-there-is-evil-in-existence-is-the-same-as-why-there/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [A good thing which prevents us from enjoying a greater good is in truth an evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/a-good-thing-which-prevents-us-from-enjoying-a-greater-good-is-in/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) > [“Oh, oh, no greater evil is there in this world, than the evil that lies in the hearts of those who repay good with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-joybell-c/oh-oh-no-greater-evil-is-there-in-this-world-than-the-evil-that-lies/) [C. JoyBell C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-joybell-c/) > [“None of us suffers as much as we should, or loves as much as we say. Love is the first lie; wisdom the last.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/djuna-barnes/none-of-us-suffers-as-much-as-we-should-or-loves-as-much-as-we-say/) [Djuna Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/djuna-barnes/) > [Until mankind realizes that there is, in truth, no good, and there is, in truth, no evil-there will be no peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-maclaine/until-mankind-realizes-that-there-is-in-truth-no-good-and-there-is-in/) [Shirley MacLaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-maclaine/) > [The truth frequently seems unreasonable; the truth frequently is depressing; the truth sometimes seems to be evil, but it has the eternal advantage, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ford/the-truth-frequently-seems-unreasonable-the-truth-frequently-is/) [Henry Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ford/) > [Marriage, if one will face the truth, is an evil, but a necessary evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menander/marriage-if-one-will-face-the-truth-is-an-evil-but-a-necessary-evil/) [Menander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menander/) > [One day Mara, the Buddhist god of ignorance and evil, was traveling through the villages of India with his attendants. He saw a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/one-day-mara-the-buddhist-god-of-ignorance-and-evil-was-traveling/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [This is the most bitter truth: The most evil acts are performed by religious Master's](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/this-is-the-most-bitter-truth-the-most-evil-acts-are-performed-by/) [Mak\_786](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mak-786/) > [Some of this story is completely true. And some of it isn't. Like truth, evil comes in all sorts of flavors. Some bitter. Some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-olsen/some-of-this-story-is-completely-true-and-some-of-it-isn-t-like-truth/) [Gregg Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-olsen/) > [“union of opposites to form human nature was just what human beings told themselves to rationalize away their imperfections. Maybe it was just too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/union-of-opposites-to-form-human-nature-was-just-what-human-beings/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“In truth, there is nothing evil, only objective phenomena and experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/in-truth-there-is-nothing-evil-only-objective-phenomena-and-experience/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [“Hiding the truth is as evil as feeding the lie grow tough muscles.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/hiding-the-truth-is-as-evil-as-feeding-the-lie-grow-tough-muscles/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. Imperialist expansion had been touched off by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-imperialists-actually-wanted-was-expansion-of-political-power/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/forgiveness-is-the-key-to-action-and-freedom/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/death-not-merely-ends-life-it-also-bestows-upon-it-a-silent/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-crime-and-the-criminal-it-is-true-confront-us-with-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It is like the distinction between war and peace: just as war takes place for the sake of peace, thus every kind of activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-is-like-the-distinction-between-war-and-peace-just-as-war-takes/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/every-end-in-history-necessarily-contains-a-new-beginning/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More Evil quotes > [I've always been fascinated by the idea that there's no such thing as evil; it's all in your point of view. To one group…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eli-roth/i-ve-always-been-fascinated-by-the-idea-that-there-s-no-such-thing-as/) [Eli Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eli-roth/) > [If ever I did a man any goodof course it was something exceptional and insignificant compared with the good or evil which I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/if-ever-i-did-a-man-any-goodof-course-it-was-something-exceptional/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good; every action that retards it is evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/every-action-that-helps-us-manifest-our-divine-nature-more-and-more/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [I do conscientiously and sincerely believe that the Order of Freemasonry, if not the greatest, is one of the greatest moral and political evils…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-quincy-adams/i-do-conscientiously-and-sincerely-believe-that-the-order-of/) [John Quincy Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-quincy-adams/) > [The Republicans do not look on the Democrats as the evil empire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-safire/the-republicans-do-not-look-on-the-democrats-as-the-evil-empire/) [William Safire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-safire/) > [Let us remember that every worldview-not just Christianity's-must give an explanation or an answer for evil and suffering...this is not just a problem distinctive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/let-us-remember-that-every-worldview-not-just-christianity-s-must/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-is-done-out-of-love-always-takes-place-beyond-good-and-evil/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ Evil cannot be "treated" -- nor should it be. Evil has to \[be\] confronted and destroyed and it matters not why the evil is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/evil-cannot-be-treated-nor-should-it-be-evil-has-to-be-confronted-and/) [Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/) > [The evil which does me no harm is like the good which in no wise avails me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/the-evil-which-does-me-no-harm-is-like-the-good-which-in-no-wise/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/attack-the-evil-that-is-within-yourself-rather-than-attacking-the/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/somewhere-somebody-must-have-some-sense-men-must-see-that-force/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nayler/there-is-a-spirit-which-i-feel-that-delights-to-do-no-evil-nor-to/) [James Nayler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-nayler/) > [The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-politician-attempts-to-remedy-the-evil-by-increasing-the-very/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [“Water is so friendly when you have it on your palms, but so evil when they have you on theirs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/water-is-so-friendly-when-you-have-it-on-your-palms-but-so-evil-when/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [THE ART OF PEACE is not easy. It is a fight to the finish, the slaying of evil desires and all falsehood within. On…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morihei-ueshiba/the-art-of-peace-is-not-easy-it-is-a-fight-to-the-finish-the-slaying/) [Morihei Ueshiba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morihei-ueshiba/) [Browse all 11,163 Evil quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hannah Arendt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done-by-people-who-never-make-up/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Evil" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done-by-people-who-never-make-up/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb1/hannah-arendt-610_evil_the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done_453413.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb1/hannah-arendt-610_evil_the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done_453413.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb1/hannah-arendt-610_evil_the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done_453413.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” — Hannah Arendt", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Hannah Arendt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The sad truth is that most...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done-by-people-who-never-make-up/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-sad-truth-is-that-most-evil-is-done-by-people-who-never-make-up/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```