--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Though they may not always be handsome…" description: "\"Though they may not always be handsome men doomed to evil posses the manly virtues.\" — Jean Genet" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/jean-genet-3865_evil_though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-m_2111091.jpg" --- # Though they may not always be handsome men doomed to evil… ![“Though they may not always be handsome men doomed to evil posses the manly virtues.” quote by Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/jean-genet-3865_evil_though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-m_2111091.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/jean-genet-3865_evil_though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-m_2111091.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/jean-genet-3865_evil_though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-m_2111091.jpg) > “Though they may not always be handsome men doomed to evil posses the manly virtues.” [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even flawed individuals can embody noble qualities despite evil tendencies. **In simple terms:** Virtue can exist in the flawed. Key Takeaway Seek goodness in everyone. Themes morality duality virtue Mood introspective serious Type ethical philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - conflict resolution - leadership Key Concepts ethical complexity human nature Questions to Reflect On - How do we reconcile good deeds with bad character? - Can virtue survive in corrupt environments? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Handsome men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/handsome-men/) [Manly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manly/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Virtues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtues/) ## Related quotes > [ \[All\] the manly virtues were oppressed by the servile and pusillanimous reign of the monks. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/all-the-manly-virtues-were-oppressed-by-the-servile-and-pusillanimous/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [If a woman possesses manly virtues one should run away from her; and if she does not possess them she runs away from herself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/if-a-woman-possesses-manly-virtues-one-should-run-away-from-her-and/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [For centuries, the question of men needing to comprehend women simply didn't arise. Men were valued according to how they measured up to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-pearson/for-centuries-the-question-of-men-needing-to-comprehend-women-simply/) [Allison Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-pearson/) > [If a woman possesses manly virtues, she is to be run away from; and if she does not possess them, she runs away herself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/if-a-woman-possesses-manly-virtues-she-is-to-be-run-away-from-and-if/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/fashion-was-the-only-law-pleasure-the-only-pursuit-and-the-splendour/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“He's a very handsome man, is the captain," said Jeaneatte. . . "You shouldn't think about handsome men, child," said Mrs. Greenow. "And I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-trollope/he-s-a-very-handsome-man-is-the-captain-said-jeaneatte-you-shouldn-t/) [Anthony Trollope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-trollope/) > [I'm a very, very handsome man, and have had to come to terms with it... um, do I like the way I look? In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-brydon/i-m-a-very-very-handsome-man-and-have-had-to-come-to-terms-with-it-um/) [Rob Brydon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-brydon/) > [The best accessory for a woman - handsome man!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coco-chanel/the-best-accessory-for-a-woman-handsome-man/) [Coco Chanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coco-chanel/) > [Robert Redford used to be such a handsome man and now look at him: everything has dropped, expanded and turned a funny color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-best/robert-redford-used-to-be-such-a-handsome-man-and-now-look-at-him/) [George Best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-best/) > [“Rarely do very handsome men allow their faces to run around without a leash. I am not very handsome, but I am above-average handsome,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augusten-burroughs/rarely-do-very-handsome-men-allow-their-faces-to-run-around-without-a/) [Augusten Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augusten-burroughs/) > [Every handsome man had a flaw. It was just her luck that in William's case that flaw was lunacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilona-andrews/every-handsome-man-had-a-flaw-it-was-just-her-luck-that-in-william-s/) [Ilona Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilona-andrews/) > [“In the end, democracy gives us popular and handsome men, not geniuses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mwanandeke-kindembo/in-the-end-democracy-gives-us-popular-and-handsome-men-not-geniuses/) [Mwanandeke Kindembo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mwanandeke-kindembo/) > [Do you see these hands?" Jo said, holding them up. "These were made for caressing handsome men and meant to be adorned with pretty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-sparks/do-you-see-these-hands-jo-said-holding-them-up-these-were-made-for/) [Nicholas Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-sparks/) > [I don't look as handsome in Men in Black 2 as I did in the first one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-shalhoub/i-don-t-look-as-handsome-in-men-in-black-2-as-i-did-in-the-first-one/) [Tony Shalhoub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-shalhoub/) > [You've heard tales of beauty and the beast. How a fair maid falls in love with a monster and sees the beauty of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-maitland/you-ve-heard-tales-of-beauty-and-the-beast-how-a-fair-maid-falls-in/) [Karen Maitland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-maitland/) ## More by Jean Genet > [I'm homosexual. How and why are idle questions. It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-m-homosexual-how-and-why-are-idle-questions-it-s-a-little-like/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth, would be to have been young and never dreamed at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/worse-than-not-realizing-the-dreams-of-your-youth-would-be-to-have/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [The most reasonable man always manages, when he pulls the trigger, to become a dispenser of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/the-most-reasonable-man-always-manages-when-he-pulls-the-trigger-to/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [I could not take lightly the idea that people made love without me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-could-not-take-lightly-the-idea-that-people-made-love-without-me/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Repudiating the virtues of your world, criminals hopelessly agree to organize a forbidden universe. They agree to live in it. The air there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/repudiating-the-virtues-of-your-world-criminals-hopelessly-agree-to/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Perhaps all music, even the newest, is not so much something discovered as something that re-emerges from where it lay buried in the memory,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/perhaps-all-music-even-the-newest-is-not-so-much-something-discovered/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Love makes use of the worst traps. The least noble. The rarest. It exploits coincidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/love-makes-use-of-the-worst-traps-the-least-noble-the-rarest-it/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“They made comments about the women's legs, but, as they were not witty, their remarks had no finesse. Since their emotion was not torn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/they-made-comments-about-the-women-s-legs-but-as-they-were-not-witty/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“Thereafter, he ennobled shame. He bore it in my presence like a burden, like a tiger clinging to his shoulders, the threat of which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/thereafter-he-ennobled-shame-he-bore-it-in-my-presence-like-a-burden/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [I decided to be what crime made of me,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-decided-to-be-what-crime-made-of-me/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Prison, dungeons, blessed places where evil is impossible because they are the crossroads of all the evil in the world. One cannot commit evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/prison-dungeons-blessed-places-where-evil-is-impossible-because-they/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [A great wind swept over the ghetto, carrying away shame, invisibility and four centuries of humiliation. But when the wind dropped people saw it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/a-great-wind-swept-over-the-ghetto-carrying-away-shame-invisibility/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [In reviewing my life, in tracing its course, I fill my cell with the pleasure of being what for want of a trifle I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/in-reviewing-my-life-in-tracing-its-course-i-fill-my-cell-with-the/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“The rims of his eyelids were burning. A blow received straightens a man up and makes the body move forward, to return that blow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/the-rims-of-his-eyelids-were-burning-a-blow-received-straightens-a/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“My love is always sad.”' “That's right. As soon as I kiss you, you get sad. I've noticed it.” “Does it bother you?” “No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/my-love-is-always-sad-that-s-right-as-soon-as-i-kiss-you-you-get-sad/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) [Explore all 115 Jean Genet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) ## 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 > [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": "Though they may not always be handsome men doomed to evil posses the manly virtues.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Genet" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-men-doomed-to-evil-posses-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Evil" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-men-doomed-to-evil-posses-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/jean-genet-3865_evil_though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-m_2111091.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/jean-genet-3865_evil_though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-m_2111091.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ce/jean-genet-3865_evil_though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-m_2111091.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Though they may not always be handsome men doomed to evil posses the manly virtues.” — Jean Genet", "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": "Jean Genet", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Though they may not always be...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-men-doomed-to-evil-posses-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/though-they-may-not-always-be-handsome-men-doomed-to-evil-posses-the/#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 } } ] } ```