You should always choose the lesser of two evils.
[De duobus malis semper minus tamen est eligendum.]
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471) German-Dutch priest, author
The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi], Book 3, ch. 12, v. 2 (3.12.2) (c. 1418-27) [tr. Knox-Oakley (1959)]
(Source)
In this context, Thomas is speaking of the evil (suffering) of resisting temptation and losing out on fun times in this world, compared to the evil of eternal damnation, e.g.,
If thou say, that thou art not able to suffer much, how then wilt thou endure the fire hereafter? Of two evils the less is always to be chosen. That thou mayest therefore avoid the everlasting punishment, endeavour to endure present evils patiently for God's sake. [Anon. (1901)]
See also Cicero.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Of two evils, the less evil is to be taken.
[tr. Whitford/Raynal (1530/1871)]
Of two evils, the lesser is to be chosen.
[tr. Whitford/Gardiner (1530/1955)]
Of two evils the lesse is alwaies to be chosen.
[tr. Page (1639), 3.12.5]
Nature, as well as Religion, teaches Men, of Two Evils to choose the less.
[tr. Stanhope (1696; 1706 ed.), 3.13]
Of two evils, the least is to be chosen.
[tr. Payne (1803), 3.9.4]
Of two evils the less is alway to be chosen.
[ed. Parker (1841)]
Of two evils, the least is to be chosen.
[tr. Dibdin (1851), 3.10.1]
Of two evils we ought always to choose the less.
[ed. Bagster (1860)]
Of two evils we should always choose the less.
[tr. Benham (1874)]
Of two evils the less is always to be chosen.
[tr. Anon. (1901)]
Of two evils, the lesser is always to be chosen.
[tr. Croft/Bolton (1940)]
Of two evils always choose the less.
[tr. Daplyn (1952)]
Of two evils, always choose the lesser.
[tr. Sherley-Price (1952)]
One must always choose the lesser of two evils.
[tr. Knott (1962)]
You must always choose the lesser of two evils.
[tr. Rooney (1979)]
Always choose the lesser of two evils.
[tr. Creasy (1989)]
Quotations about:
risk assessment
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
There are two kinds of fears: rational and irrational — or, in simpler terms, fears that make sense and fears that don’t. For instance, the Baudelaire orphans have a fear of Count Olaf, which makes perfect sense, because he is an evil man who wants to destroy them. But if they were afraid of lemon meringue pie, this would be an irrational fear, because lemon meringue pie is delicious and would never hurt a soul. Being afraid of a monster under the bed is perfectly rational, because there may in fact be a monster under your bed at any time, ready to eat you all up, but fear of realtors is an irrational fear. Realtors, as I’m sure you know, are people who assist in the buying and selling of houses. Besides occasionally wearing an ugly yellow coat, the worst a realtor can do to you is show you a house that you find ugly, so it is completely irrational to be terrified of them.
Lemony Snicket (b. 1970) American author, screenwriter, musician (pseud. for Daniel Handler)
The Wide Window (2000)
(Source)
Anxiety is the unwillingness to play even when you know the odds are for you. Courage is the willingness to play even when you know the odds are against you.
Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) Hungarian-American psychiatrist, educator
The Second Sin (1973)
The ignorance of even the best-informed investor about the more remote future is much greater than his knowledge, and he cannot but be influenced to a degree which would seem wildly disproportionate to anyone who really knew the future, and be forced to seek a clue mainly here to trends further ahead. But if this is true of the best-informed, the vast majority of those who are concerned with the buying and selling of securities know almost nothing whatever about what they are doing. They do not possess even the rudiments of what is required for a valid judgement, and are the prey of hopes and fears easily aroused by transient events and as easily dispelled.
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
A Treatise on Money, Vol. 2 (1930)
A timid man sees dangers that do not exist.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 688 [tr. Lyman (1862)]
The more men have to lose, the less willing they are to venture.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
Common Sense, “Of the Present Ability of America” (14 Feb 1776)
Everything matters more than we think it does, and, at the same time, nothing matters so much as we think it does. The merest spark may set all Europe in a blaze, but though all Europe be set in a blaze twenty times over, the world will wag itself right again.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, “Sparks” (1912)
(Source)
When playing Russian roulette the fact that the first shot got off safely is little comfort for the next.
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
Rogers Commission Report into the Challenger Crash, Appendix F “Personal Observations on Reliability of Shuttle” (Jun 1986)
Full report
And, to conclude, he that leaveth nothing to Chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things.
George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695) English politician and essayist
“Of Caution and Suspicion,” Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750)
(Source)
Sometimes incorrectly attributed to Edward Wood, Earl of Halifax (1881-1959).
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Hobbit, ch. 12 “Inside Information” (1937)
(Source)
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
Widely attributed to Johnson, and in keeping with his reputation as a wily legislator, but no actual source found.
