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Quotations about malice
Note that not all quotations have been tagged, so the Search function may find additional quotations on this topic.
There is no rampart that will hold out against malice.
[Contre la médisance il n’est point de rempart.]
Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Tartuffe, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 99 (1664)
(Source)
Alt. trans.: "Against backbiting there is no bulwark."
Human blunders, however, usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.
A. J. P. Taylor (1906-1990) British historian, journalist, broadcaster [Alan John Percivale Taylor]
The Origins of the Second World War, ch. 10 “The War of Nerves” (1961)
There is no possibility of being witty without a little ill-nature; the malice in a good thing is the barb that makes it stick.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) Irish dramatist, satirist, politician
The School for Scandal, Act 1 (1777)
(Source)
Malice is of a low Stature, but it hath very long Arms.
George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695) English politician and essayist
“Of Malice and Envy,” Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750)
(Source)
I ask you not to hate people who treat you badly. … This is easier to write than it is to live but there are ignorant people. Only a few are truly malicious. Hate is a poison. It can spread through your system. Forgive them if you can. Forget them if you must.
Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944) American author, playwright
Interview in OutSmart magazine (Jan 1998)
(Source)
The ratio of damn fools to villains is high.
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
New York Times (18 May 1961)
And I have again observed, my dear friend, in this trifling affair, that misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events, the two latter are of less frequent occurrence.
[Und ich habe, mein Lieber, wieder bei diesem kleinen Geschäft gefunden, dass Missverständnisse und Trägheit vielleicht mehr Irrungen in der Welt machen als List und Bosheit. Wenigstens sind die beiden letzteren gewiss seltener.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers [The Sorrows of Young Werther], “Letter from May 4th” (1774)
Alt. trans.: "Misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent."
The widespread interest in gossip is inspired, not by a love of knowledge, but by malice: no one gossips about other people’s secret virtues, but only about their secret vices. Accordingly most gossip is untrue, but care is taken not to verify it. Our neighbour’s sins, like the consolations of religion, are so agreeable that we do not stop to scrutinize the evidence closely.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“The Aims of Education” (1929)
(Source)
Usually shortened to "No one gossips about other people's secret virtues."
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Other Authors and Sources
Robert J. Hanlon, “Hanlon’s Razor,” Murphy’s Law, Book Two (ed. A. Bloch) (1980)
Cf. Heinlein, Napoleon, and Goethe. See here for more information, including discussion that "Robert J. Hanlon" may be a corruption or obfuscation of "Robert A. Heinlein."
Various variants in combinations with "ascribe," "what can be," and "incompetence."
Rascality has limits; stupidity has not.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor, military leader
(Attributed)
