--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Senseless people name evil good, call…" description: "\"“Senseless people name evil good, call good evil. As you are doing. You accuse Us of passing false judgement: you do Us injustice. We shall prove this ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c94/johannes-von-saaz-53216_death_senseless-people-name-evil-good-call-goo_2012103.jpg" --- # Senseless people name evil good, call good evil. As you… ![“Senseless people name evil good, call good evil. As you are doing. You accuse Us of passing false judgement: you do Us injustice. We shall prove this to you. You ask who We are: We are God’s handle, Master Death, a truly effective reaper. Our scythe works its way. It cuts down white, black, red…” quote by Johannes von Saaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c94/johannes-von-saaz-53216_death_senseless-people-name-evil-good-call-goo_2012103.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c94/johannes-von-saaz-53216_death_senseless-people-name-evil-good-call-goo_2012103.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c94/johannes-von-saaz-53216_death_senseless-people-name-evil-good-call-goo_2012103.jpg) > ““Senseless people name evil good, call good evil. As you are doing. You accuse Us of passing false judgement: you do Us injustice. We shall prove this to you. You ask who We are: We are God’s handle, Master Death, a truly effective reaper. Our scythe works its way. It cuts down white, black, red, brown, green, blue, grey, yellow, and all kinds of lustrous flowers in its path, irrespective of their splendour, their strength, their virtue. And the violet’s beautiful colour, rich perfume, and palatable sap, avail it nought. See: that is justice. Our justification was acknowledged by the Romans and the poets, for they knew Us better than you do. You ask what We are: We are nothing, and yet something. Nothing, because We have neither life, nor being, nor form, and We are no spirit, not visible, not tangible; something, because We are the end of life, the end of existence, the beginning of nullity, a cross between the two. We are a happening that fells all people. Huge giants must fall before Us; all living beings must be transformed by Us. You ask where We are: We are not ascertainable. But Our form was found in a temple in Rome\*, painted on a wall, as a hoodwinked man sitting on an ox; this man wielded a hatchet in his right hand and a shovel in his left hand, with which he was beating the ox. A great crowd of all kinds of people was hitting him, fighting him, and making casts at him, each one with the tools of his trade: even the nun with her psalter was there. They struck and made casts at the man on the ox, he who signified Us; yet Death contested and buried them all. Pythagoras likens Us to a man’s form with the eyes of a basilisk: they wandered to the ends of the Earth, and every living creature had to die at their glance. You ask where We are: We are from the Earthly Paradise. God created Us there and gave Us Our true name, when he said: «The day that ye bite of this fruit, ye shall die the death.» And for that reason We call ourself: «We, Death, mighty ruler and master on Earth, in the air, and in the rivers of the sea.» You ask what good We do: you have already heard that We bring the world more advantage than harm. Now cease, rest content, and thank Us for the kindness we have done you!”” [Johannes von Saaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-von-saaz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage personifies Death as an impartial, all‑consuming force that treats all beings equally, regardless of virtue or beauty, and claims a cosmic, inevitable role in existence. **In simple terms:** Death is shown as a neutral, inevitable force that ends all life. Key Takeaway Recognize mortality and act with humility. Themes mortality justice inevitability philosophy Mood somber reflective Type philosophical mythic When to use this quote - contemplation of life’s meaning - ethical decision‑making - acceptance of death - literary analysis Key Concepts nihilism cosmic order symbolism Questions to Reflect On - What does it mean to accept death as inevitable? - How does this perspective affect moral choices? A Different Perspective The view may overlook human agency and moral responsibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [End of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-of-life/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [God Created](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god-created/) ## Related quotes > [“These days, all I ask of Fate is that the people she hurls into my life, whether they are evil or good, or morally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/these-days-all-i-ask-of-fate-is-that-the-people-she-hurls-into-my-2/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [Justice for some people is an evil for others. 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If this is the great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/if-that-which-we-have-found-is-the-corruption-of-solitude-then-what/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“Which comes first: Good or Evil? Usually evil. Good counters.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-chapman/which-comes-first-good-or-evil-usually-evil-good-counters/) Steve Chapman > [“It was granted me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-was-granted-me-to-carry-away-from-my-prison-years-on-my-bent-back/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. —ISAIAH 5:20”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-cahn/woe-to-those-who-call-evil-good-and-good-evil-who-put-darkness-for/) [Jonathan Cahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-cahn/) ## More by Johannes von Saaz > [“Your short understanding, your clipped mind, your hollow heart, will make more of mankind than it has the power to become. 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By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/most-of-us-are-convinced-that-we-are-our-egos-which-is-who-we-think/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [I do not want to live at the cost of the life even of a snake. I should let him bite me to death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-to-live-at-the-cost-of-the-life-even-of-a-snake-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“It was beautiful. 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Powers > [“You must understand the pain and grief of losing someone is nothing more than a function of survival.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-cooper/you-must-understand-the-pain-and-grief-of-losing-someone-is-nothing/) [Steven Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-cooper/) > [I am not a depressive person at all, but I reflect a lot on my life, and life in general, from the perspective of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/i-am-not-a-depressive-person-at-all-but-i-reflect-a-lot-on-my-life/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [“Death is a reality that calls the rest of life and all of our assorted strivings into sharp relief.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/death-is-a-reality-that-calls-the-rest-of-life-and-all-of-our/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [I love life. I love life to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmanuelle-riva/i-love-life-i-love-life-to-death/) [Emmanuelle Riva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmanuelle-riva/) > [I think when you’re dying you start looking for important things in the corners. You can’t let anything that seems even semi-important pass, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-crutcher/i-think-when-you-re-dying-you-start-looking-for-important-things-in/) [Chris Crutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-crutcher/) [Browse all 39,127 Death quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Senseless people name evil good, call good evil. As you are doing. You accuse Us of passing false judgement: you do Us injustice. We shall prove this to you. You ask who We are: We are God’s handle, Master Death, a truly effective reaper. Our scythe works its way. It cuts down white, black, red, brown, green, blue, grey, yellow, and all kinds of lustrous flowers in its path, irrespective of their splendour, their strength, their virtue. And the violet’s beautiful colour, rich perfume, and palatable sap, avail it nought. See: that is justice. Our justification was acknowledged by the Romans and the poets, for they knew Us better than you do. You ask what We are: We are nothing, and yet something. Nothing, because We have neither life, nor being, nor form, and We are no spirit, not visible, not tangible; something, because We are the end of life, the end of existence, the beginning of nullity, a cross between the two. We are a happening that fells all people. Huge giants must fall before Us; all living beings must be transformed by Us. You ask where We are: We are not ascertainable. 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God created Us there and gave Us Our true name, when he said: «The day that ye bite of this fruit, ye shall die the death.» And for that reason We call ourself: «We, Death, mighty ruler and master on Earth, in the air, and in the rivers of the sea.» You ask what good We do: you have already heard that We bring the world more advantage than harm. 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