--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Evil is... a moral entity and not a…" description: "\"Evil is... a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity: it existed before the world; it constituted the monstrous, the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51b/marquis-de-sade-1964_creatures_evil-is-a-moral-entity-and-not-a-created_2666346.jpg" --- # Evil is... a moral entity and not a created one, an… ![“Evil is... a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity: it existed before the world; it constituted the monstrous, the execrable being who was also to fashion such a hideous world. It will hence exist after the creatures which people this world” quote by Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51b/marquis-de-sade-1964_creatures_evil-is-a-moral-entity-and-not-a-created_2666346.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51b/marquis-de-sade-1964_creatures_evil-is-a-moral-entity-and-not-a-created_2666346.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51b/marquis-de-sade-1964_creatures_evil-is-a-moral-entity-and-not-a-created_2666346.jpg) > “Evil is... a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity: it existed before the world; it constituted the monstrous, the execrable being who was also to fashion such a hideous world. It will hence exist after the creatures which people this world” [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes evil as an eternal, inherent moral force predating creation. **In simple terms:** Evil is a timeless moral reality. Key Takeaway Recognize evil's deep roots. Themes philosophy morality existence Mood dark serious Type philosophical theoretical When to use this quote - political theory - ethical debates - psychology Key Concepts ontological evil metaphysics Questions to Reflect On - Is evil a construct or a fundamental reality? - How does this view affect moral responsibility? A Different Perspective Eternal evil concept may conflict with scientific views. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) [Entity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/entity/) [Eternal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) [Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Evil Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil-moral-259137/) [Exist Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exist-creatures-2469068/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Fashion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fashion/) [Hideous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hideous/) [Monstrous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monstrous/) [Monstrous Execrable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monstrous-execrable-2469069/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Moral Entity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-entity-2469067/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [This world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/this-world/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Whatever it means for us to exist, we do so as creatures created, as the universe has been created, to glorify God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-hauerwas/whatever-it-means-for-us-to-exist-we-do-so-as-creatures-created-as/) [Stanley Hauerwas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-hauerwas/) > [“True. And there are an infinite number of universes, of course, in which we don't exist at all - that is, no creatures similar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fredric-brown/true-and-there-are-an-infinite-number-of-universes-of-course-in-which/) [Fredric Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fredric-brown/) > [The universe appears to me like an immense, inexorable torture-garden…Passions, greed, hatred, and lies; social institutions, justice, love, glory, heroism, and religion: these are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octave-mirbeau/the-universe-appears-to-me-like-an-immense-inexorable-torture-garden/) [Octave Mirbeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octave-mirbeau/) > [Ethics occupies a central place in philosophy because it is concerned with sin, with the origin of good and evil and with moral valuations.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-berdyaev/ethics-occupies-a-central-place-in-philosophy-because-it-is-concerned/) [Nikolai Berdyaev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-berdyaev/) > [I don't believe there is any such definition, there is no such thing as evil, only moral judgments based on what society believes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolas-schreck/i-don-t-believe-there-is-any-such-definition-there-is-no-such-thing/) [Nikolas Schreck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolas-schreck/) > [“Your moral code begins by damning man as evil, then demands that he practice a good which it defines as impossible for him to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/your-moral-code-begins-by-damning-man-as-evil-then-demands-that-he/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“This night the woman of his belittling deprecations was thinking how great and good her husband was. But over them both there hung a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/this-night-the-woman-of-his-belittling-deprecations-was-thinking-how/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/i-became-convinced-that-noncooperation-with-evil-is-as-much-a-moral/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [We are never so poor that we cannot bless another human being, are we? So it is that every evil, whether moral or material,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erdrich/we-are-never-so-poor-that-we-cannot-bless-another-human-being-are-we/) [Louise Erdrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erdrich/) > [Thus we see, too, in the world that some persons assimilate only what is ugly and evil from the same moral circumstances which supply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/thus-we-see-too-in-the-world-that-some-persons-assimilate-only-what/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [I'm very interested in good and evil and the moral natures of people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonia-fraser/i-m-very-interested-in-good-and-evil-and-the-moral-natures-of-people/) [Antonia Fraser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonia-fraser/) > [While one could hardly say that philosophers have given much attention to the place that the concept of evil has among our moral concepts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raimond-gaita/while-one-could-hardly-say-that-philosophers-have-given-much/) [Raimond Gaita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raimond-gaita/) > [Deliver us from evil - from moral duplicity and weakness, from laziness and spiritual complacency, from those lies we tell ourselves from our fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-mullins/deliver-us-from-evil-from-moral-duplicity-and-weakness-from-laziness/) [Rich Mullins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-mullins/) > [“What is the nature of the guilt that your teachers call his Original Sin? What are the evils man acquired when he fell from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/what-is-the-nature-of-the-guilt-that-your-teachers-call-his-original/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“Evil is moral at it heart. The selection of vice over virtue; you can pretend not to know, you can rationalize, but you know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-maguire/evil-is-moral-at-it-heart-the-selection-of-vice-over-virtue-you-can/) [Gregory Maguire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-maguire/) ## More by Marquis de Sade > [What you call disorder is nothing else than one of the laws of the order you comprehend not and which you have erroneously named…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/what-you-call-disorder-is-nothing-else-than-one-of-the-laws-of-the/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [And if I were a naughty little boy, the idea is to spank me into good behavior?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/and-if-i-were-a-naughty-little-boy-the-idea-is-to-spank-me-into-good/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [There is a kind of pleasure which comes from sacrilege or the profanation of the objects offered us for worship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/there-is-a-kind-of-pleasure-which-comes-from-sacrilege-or-the/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [“To enlighten mankind and improve its morals is the only lesson which we offer in this story. In reading it, may the world discover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/to-enlighten-mankind-and-improve-its-morals-is-the-only-lesson-which/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [What we are doing here is only the image of what we would like to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/what-we-are-doing-here-is-only-the-image-of-what-we-would-like-to-do/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Happiness lies neither in vice nor in virtue; but in the manner we appreciate the one and the other, and the choice we make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/happiness-lies-neither-in-vice-nor-in-virtue-but-in-the-manner-we/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [What does one want when one is engaged in the sexual act? That everything around you give you its utter attention, think only of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/what-does-one-want-when-one-is-engaged-in-the-sexual-act-that/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [ The law which attempts a man's life \[capital punishment\] is impractical, unjust, inadmissible. It has never repressed crime--for a second crime is every day… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/the-law-which-attempts-a-man-s-life-capital-punishment-is-impractical/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Between understanding and faith immediate connections must subsist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/between-understanding-and-faith-immediate-connections-must-subsist/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [My passions, concentrated on a single point, resemble the rays of a sun assembled by a magnifying glass: they immediately set fire to whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/my-passions-concentrated-on-a-single-point-resemble-the-rays-of-a-sun/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [The idea of God is the sole wrong for which I cannot forgive mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/the-idea-of-god-is-the-sole-wrong-for-which-i-cannot-forgive-mankind/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Imperious, choleric, irascible, extreme in everything, with a dissolute imagination the like of which has never been seen, atheistic to the point of fanaticism,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/imperious-choleric-irascible-extreme-in-everything-with-a-dissolute/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/lust-s-passion-will-be-served-it-demands-it-militates-it-tyrannizes/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [“In order to know virtue, we must acquaint ourselves with vice. Only then can we know the true measure of a man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/in-order-to-know-virtue-we-must-acquaint-ourselves-with-vice-only/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Never may an act of possession be exercised upon a free being; the exclusive possession of a woman is no less unjust than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/never-may-an-act-of-possession-be-exercised-upon-a-free-being-the/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) [Explore all 181 Marquis de Sade quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) ## More Creatures quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Almost everywhere we find . . . the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child withinus--i.e.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-miller/almost-everywhere-we-find-the-use-of-various-coercive-measures-to-rid/) [Alice Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-miller/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-could-not-have-slept-tonight-if-i-had-left-that-helpless-little/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-jones/my-dad-s-family-were-political-and-he-was-always-a-theatrical/) [Grace Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-jones/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) [Browse all 3,703 Creatures quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Evil is... a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity: it existed before the world; it constituted the monstrous, the execrable being who was also to fashion such a hideous world. 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