Two Evils Quotes

I think voting for the lesser of two evils in game theory always leads to more evil. ~ Penn Jillette

Life is just a series of choices. We try to always make the best ones, but really we're just settling for the lesser of two evils. Or at least trying to. ~ S.L. Jennings

Where there is a choice of two evils, most men take both. ~ Austin O'Malley

Two evils, of almost equal weight, may befall the man of erudition; never to be listened to, and to be listened to always. ~ Walter Savage Landor

The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule , between good and evil but between two evils. You can let the Nazis rule the world : that is evil; or you can overthrow them by war , which is also evil. There is no other choice before you, and whichever you choose you will not come out with clean hands. ~ George Orwell

The lesser of two evils, or the least of the worst, is not good enough for the American people anymore. ~ Ralph Nader

Our choices lie between the lesser of two evils, but it is still within our power to make these choices ~ Scott Peck

When law and morality are in contradiction to each other, the citizen finds himself in the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense, or of losing his respect for the law - two evils of equal magnitude, between which it would be difficult to choose. It ~ Frederic Bastiat

No society can exist if respect for the law does not to some extent prevail; but the surest way to have the laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality are in contradiction, the citizen finds himself in the cruel dilemma of either losing his moral sense or of losing respect for the law, two evils of which one is as great as the other, and between which it is difficult to choose. ~ Frederic Bastiat

Remembering his creative exposition on the subject of purple-spotted dingy-dippers, Lillian gave a little huff of amusement. She had always considered Westcliff an utterly humorless man…and in that, she had misjudged him. "I thought you never lied," she said.
His lips twitched. "Given the options of seeing you become ill at the dinner table, or lying to get you out of there quickly, I chose the lesser of two evils. Do you feel better now?"
"Better…yes." Lillian realized that she was resting in the crook of his arm, her skirts draped partially over one of his thighs. His body was solid and warm, perfectly matched to hers. Glancing downward, she saw that the fabric of his trousers had molded firmly around his muscular thighs. Unladylike curiosity awakened inside her, and she clenched her fingers against the urge to slide her palm over his leg. "The part about the dingy-dipper was clever," she said, dragging her gaze up to his face. "But inventing a Latin name for it was positively inspired."
Westcliff grinned. "I always hoped my Latin would be good for something." Shifting her a little, he reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and glanced at his watch. "We'll return to the dining hall in approximately a quarter hour. By that time the calves' heads should be removed."
Lillian made a face. "I hate English food," she exclaimed. "All those jellies and blobs, and wiggly puddings, and the game that is aged until by the time it's served, it is older than I am ~ Lisa Kleypas

The Christian soldier must avoid two evils - he must not faint or yield in the time of fight, and after a victory he must not wax insolent and secure. When he has overcome, he is so to behave himself as though he were presently again to be assaulted. For Satan's temptations like the waves of the sea, do follow one in the neck of the other ~ George Downame

The regime's policies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, had engendered a sharp divide between Muslims and Christians, in spite of the fact that generations of Muslims and Coptic Christians had lived together peacefully in the past. The regime was good at utilizing this divide to create a perception that without Mubarak in power, Egyptians would break out into sectarian warfare. As a result, Mubarak managed to market his police state successfully to the international community as the lesser of two evils. ~ Wael Ghonim

There's a terrible danger in voting for the lesser of two evils because the parties can set it up that way. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Abortion is not the lesser of two evils. It is a crime. It is to throw someone out in order to save another. ~ Pope Francis

How many more of these stinking, double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote FOR something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

I say I'm the only serious comedian in the presidential race. And I'd like to take this opportunity to ask both Romney and Obama to debate me. Because I think that both of those guys - I think that the American people are being given a false choice, because the choice between the lesser of two evils is a false choice. ~ Roseanne Barr

It's pretty sad when you have to choose between the lesser of two evils. ~ Meg White

If you have difficulties making a decision, choose the lesser of the two evils. ~ Rajneesh

between two evils you should always pick the one that you haven't yet tried. I ~ Ashwin Sanghi

When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before. ~ Mae West

Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both. ~ Tryon Edwards

In their moral justification, the argument of the lesser evil has played a prominent role. If you are confronted with two evils, the argument runs, it is your duty to opt for the lesser one, whereas it is irresponsible to refuse to choose altogether. Its weakness has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget quickly that they chose evil. ~ Hannah Arendt

Divorce Myths: 1. When love has gone out of a marriage, it is better to get divorced. 2. It is better for the children for the unhappy couple to divorce than to raise their children in the atmosphere of an unhappy marriage. 3. Divorce is the lesser of two evils. 4. You owe it to yourself. 5. Everyone's entitled to one mistake. 6. God led me to this divorce. ~ R.C. Sproul

Two evils, monstrous either one apart, Possessed me, and were long and loath at going: A cry of Absence, Absence, in the heart, And in the wood the furious winter blowing. ~ John Crowe Ransom

Its easy to view politicians as corrupt and voting essentially an act of picking the lesser of two evils. I understand that perspective and feel it's valid. ~ Macklemore

Melville to Hawthorne: "In your stories, you seem to understand that the dramatic moments come not when a character must choose between right and wrong buy when he must choose between two wrongs. ~ Mark Beauregard

You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I'm taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible. ~ Harry S. Truman

Of two evils choose the least. ~ Desiderius Erasmus

Lesser of two evils. ~ Jeane Kirkpatrick

Imitations of Horace. Of two evils I have chose the least. ~ Various

The two-party system is a bad joke on the American people; when it comes to Republicans and Democrats remember they are two sides of the same coin. Voting for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil and not an answer to our problems. A vote for a Republican or a Democrat will not fix anything and is a wasted vote. ~ Aaron Russo

The lesser of two evils is still evil. ~ Solomon

I could choose what kind of people I preyed on, but in the end, I had to prey on someone. The lesser of the two evils was still evil. ~ Julie Kagawa

He felt her hand curl in the material of his shirt, and it was a glorious goddamn feeling. So if presented with an unknown threat, she would consider him the lesser of the two evils. Right. He could work with that. Some marriages had been founded on less, and he merely wanted to shag her senseless. ~ Tessa Bailey

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before. ~ Steven Wright

To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less. ~ Plato

In love there are two evils: war and peace. ~ Horace

the pursuit of our soul's satisfaction--our joy and delight and happiness--is not sin. Sin is the exact opposite: pursuing happiness where no lasting happiness can be found. "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13, RSV). Sin is trying to quench our unquenchable soul-thirst anywhere but in God. Or, more subtly, sin is pursuing satisfaction in the right direction, but with lukewarm, halfhearted affections (Rev. 3:16). ~ John Piper

And I guess you judge how well you're doing by how well you sleep at night ... and what your dreams are like. ~ Stephen King

What does the Right have to show for eight years of a Republican presidency? I supported George W. Bush in 2000 because I thought he had a conservative bone in his body somewhere. I supported him in 2004 because I thought him the lesser of two evils. At this point, I wouldn't let the fool park his car in my driveway. Bruce Bartlett was right, every damn word. ~ John Derbyshire

I'm just deeply disappointed that once again we may have to settle for the lesser of two evils. ~ Howard Dean

It's just that unwinding makes slavery look good. It's always the lesser of two evils. ~ Neal Shusterman

In that case, which would be the lesser of two evils - terror cabin with a psycho or beach estate with a weirdo? ~ K. Webster

A man is an angel that has become deranged, Joe Fernwright thought. Once they – all of them – had been genuine angels, and at that time they had had a choice between good and evil, so it was easy, easy being an angel. And then something happened. Something went wrong or broke down or failed. And they had become faced with the necessity of choosing not good or evil but the lesser of two evils, and so that had unhinged them and now each was a man. ~ Philip K. Dick

Well, I'm against Bush. I'm definitely not pro-Bush. I think he's a maniac and a mad man, and I think he needs to go. As far as Kerry
you know, I think that it really came down to a choice of the lesser of two evils, and unfortunately Bush won. ~ Roger Miret

The lesson for today, dear Rakshas , is between two evils you should pick the one that you haven't yet tried. ~ Ashwin Sanghi

I want a dyke for president. I want a person with AIDS for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance and I want someone who grew up in a place where the earth is so saturated with toxic waste that they didn't have a choice about getting leukemia. I want a president that had an abortion at sixteen and I want a candidate who isn't the lesser of two evils and I want a president who lost their last lover to AIDS, who still sees that in their eyes every time they lay down to rest, who held their lover in their arms and knew they were dying. I want a president with no air-conditioning, a president who has stood in line at the clinic, at the DMV, at the welfare office, and has been unemployed and laid off and sexually harassed and gaybashed and deported. I want someone who has spent the night in the tombs and had a cross burned on their lawn and survived rape. I want someone who has been in love and been hurt, who respects sex, who has made mistakes and learned from them. I want a Black woman for president. I want someone with bad teeth and an attitude, someone who has eaten that nasty hospital food, someone who crossdresses and has done drugs and been in therapy. I want someone who has committed civil disobedience. And I want to know why this isn't possible. I want to know why we started learning somewhere down the line that a president is always a clown. Always a john and never a hooker. Always a boss and never a worker. Always a lia ~ Zoe Leonard

When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil. ~ Max Lerner

Of two evils, the less is always to be chosen. ~ Thomas A Kempis

Of two evils, I always choose the lesser. ~ Gene Stratton-Porter

Take a look at the police and how they treat you,
Take a look at these corporations that cheat you.
Democrats and Republicans are all see-through.
Now we votin for the lesser of two evils ...
Man, don't let 'em deceive you.
This is an autocracy, not a democracy,
But to call this a democracy without mock interest
In the laws of society? That's called hypocrisy. ~ KRS-One

He was not being courageous as he bore the freezing stream for his wife and children. He simply chose between the lesser of two evils - the pain and suffering he would endure in the river, a physical pain that he could stand to bear, or the pain and suffering he would feel if he had to watch his family wade across and freeze. It was not a decision. The choice had already been made the moment Ole proposed marriage to his wife and welcomed these beautiful daughters into the world. ~ Sage Steadman

Of two evils, the lesser must always be chosen De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum ~ Thomas A Kempis

One has got to choose between the two evils, also between the lesser of the two evils in the matter of food, and therefore vegetarian food has got to he taken by man in order to sustain human life. ~ Morarji Desai

Between two evils, I choose the one I've never tried before. ~ Heinlein Robert A.

Although war is evil, it is occasionally the lesser of two evils. ~ McGeorge Bundy

Wrong is wrong. Wrong is out there and lives among us. When do you get tired of voting for the lesser of the two evils? Wrong cannot be fought unless you understand what you are fighting against. Wrong can be fought against by using its own energy against itself. Let the system destroy itself. Accelerate the process by backing your resources out of the system. The system may not collapse in your lifetime, but you have the ability to help set up future generations, your children's children, to have a better life even further away from the system. ~ Annie Berdel

And how many more of these stinking, double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils? I ~ Hunter S. Thompson

When choosing the lesser of two evils, always remember, it is still an evil. ~ Max Lerner

Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried. ~ Mae West

Of two evils, choose neither. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Of two evils, had not an author better be tedious than superficial! From an overflowing vessel you may gather more, indeed, than you want, but from an empty one you can gather nothing. ~ Hannah More

In the first place, it would efface from everybody's
conscience the distinction between justice and injustice.
No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a cer-
tain degree, but the safest way to make them respected is
to make them respectable. When law and morality are in
contradiction to each other, the citizen finds himself in
the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense, or of
losing his respect for the law - two evils of equal magni-
tude, between which it would be difficult to choose. ~ Frederic Bastiat

Some rule out of a lust for ruling; others, so as not to be ruled:Mto these it is merely the lesser of two evils. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

knife. "Sure you have," Andy agreed. "But you don't do it. Because guys like us, Red, we know there's a third choice. An alternative to staying simon-pure or bathing in the filth and the slime. It's the alternative that grown-ups all over the world pick. You balance off your walk through the hog-wallow against what it gains you. You choose the lesser of two evils and try to keep your good intentions in front of you. And I guess you judge how well you're doing by how well you sleep at night... ~ Stephen King

To be alone is the fate of all great minds - a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

One cold winter's day a number of porcupines huddled together quite closely in order, through their mutual warmth, to prevent themselves from being frozen. But they soon felt the effects of their quills on one another, which made them again move apart. Now, when the need for warmth once again brought them together, the drawback of the quills was repeated so they were tossed between two evils, until they discovered the proper distance from which they could best tolerate one another. Thus the needs for society, which springs from the emptiness and monotony of men's lives, drives them together but their many unpleasant and repulsive qualities once more drive them apart. ~ Irvin D. Yalom

The lesser of two evils was still evil. ~ Julie Kagawa

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before. ~ Mae West

It was the lesser of two evils. ~ Liane Moriarty

Sometimes the only choice is the lesser of two evils. ~ Dan Brown

Beauty is a spark which flares up when two ages meet across the distance of time, ... beauty is a clean sweep of chronology, a rebellion against time. ~ Milan Kundera

It is good to express a matter in two ways simultaneously so as to give it both a right foot and a left. Truth can stand on one leg, to be sure; but with two it can walk and get about. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

However, these days everyone holds their stupid smartphone in front of them the entire time in case somebody likes a dog picture on Facebook and they miss it by two seconds... ~ Jenny Colgan

And for another person to come along side us on our journey - for two messy, broken people to come together and say "I know your faults, I know you're going to do some things I hate, I know the person you are now is not the person you want to be. However, I know the person you could become and I want to help you get there."
That's what it's all about. ~ Cole Ryan

Perhaps because I have spent hours sermonizing to students about the sins of the passive voice - how it can obfuscate meaning, deaden vitality, and abandon the task of assigning agency or responsibility - I find the grammar of justice maddening. It's always "rendered," "served," or "done." It always swoops down from on high - from God, from the state - like a bolt of lightning, a flaming sword come to separate the righteous from the wicked in Earth's final hour. It is not, apparently, something we can give to one other, something we can make happen, something we can create together down here in the muck. The problem may also lie in the word itself, as for millennia "justice" has meant both "retribution" and "equality," as if a gaping chasm did not separate the two.

If you really want to know what justice is, don't only ask questions and then score off anyone who answers, and refute him, roars Thrasymachus to Socrates in The Republic. You know very well that it is much easier to ask questions than to answer them. Give an answer yourself and tell us what you say justice is. When justice is done, writes Anne Carson, the world drops away. This does not seem to me a happy thought. I am not yet sure I want the world to drop away. ~ Maggie Nelson

One step closer to the end of the world. The one-two combo of corporate greed and organised religion apparently proved to be too much for reason, sanity and compassion. ~ Trent Reznor

Someone has written, "The hardening of a tender heart almost always starts with a justifiable action."8 We think we know what we're doing. We consider our resistance toward God's plans and our lack of surrender to be minor compared to what others have done. We figure we do a lot of good things that ought to make up for our admitted weaknesses here and there, in one or two areas. We don't think God expects us to be so radical and on guard all the time. We've still got to have a life, right? ~ Priscilla Shirer

Sir Eustace was with Royce and Stefan looking over some maps when he was informed by the guard that the ladies were asking for him. "Is there no end to her arrogance!" Royce bit out, referring to Jenny. "She even sends her guards on errands, and what's more, they run to do her bidding." Checking his tirade, he said shortly, "I assume it was the blue-eyed one with the dirty face who sent you?"
Sir Lionel chuckled and shook his head. "I saw two clean faces, Royce, but the one who talked to me had greenish eyes, not blue."
"Ah, I see," Royce said sarcastically, "it wasn't Arrogance that sent you trotting away from your post, it was Beauty. What does she want? ~ Judith McNaught

37Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. ~ Anonymous

There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers. ~ Richard Castle

It does happen, you know, from time to time, that a man finds a woman who is the answer to all his more searching dreams. And the two have understanding of each other, from the lightest moment to the darkest mood. ~ Daphne Du Maurier

Some people can't figure out what I'm doing. It's not a walk-hop, it's not a trot, it's running, or as close as I can get to running, and it's harder than doing it on two legs. It makes me mad when people call this a walk. If I was walking it wouldn't be anything. ~ Terry Fox

The two things that got everyone's attention about the 'House of Cards' deal was the two-season commitment and David Fincher. After David Fincher directs a series for Netflix, no one else can say, 'Well, I'm not going to direct a series for the Internet.' ~ Ted Sarandos

In stark contrast to two nights ago, when I felt Peeta was a million miles away, I'm struck by his immediacy now. As we settle in, he pulls my head down to use his arm as a pillow; the other rests protectively over me even when he goes to sleep. No one has held me like this in such a long time. Since my father died and I stopped trusting my mother, no one else's arms have made me feel this safe. ~ Suzanne Collins

We first got marijuana from an older drummer with another group in Liverpool. We didn't actually try it until after we'd been to Hamburg. I remember we smoked it in the band room in a gig in Southport and we all learnt to do the Twist that night, which was popular at the time. We were all seeing if we could do it. Everybody was saying, 'This stuff isn't doing anything.' It was like that old joke where a party is going on and two hippies are up floating on the ceiling, and one is saying to the other, 'This stuff doesn't work, man.' ~ George Harrison

We economists don't know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of tomatoes, for example, just pass a law that retailers can't sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. Instantly you'll have a tomato shortage. It's the same with oil or gas. ~ Milton Friedman

I first met Winston Churchill in the early summer of 1906 at a dinner party to which I went as a very young girl. Our hostess was Lady Wemyss and I remember that Arthur Balfour, George Wyndman, Hilaire Belloc and Charles Whibley were among the guests…

I found myself sitting next to this young man who seemed to me quite different from any other young man I had ever met. For a long time he seemed sunk in abstraction. Then he appeared to become suddenly aware of my existence. He turned on me a lowering gaze and asked me abruptly how old I was. I replied that I was nineteen. "And I," he said despairingly, "am thirty-two already. Younger than anyone else who counts, though, "he added, as if to comfort himself. Then savagely: "Curse ruthless time! Curse our mortality. How cruelly short is this allotted span for all we must cram into it!" And he burst forth into an eloquent diatribe on the shortness of human life, the immensity of possible human accomplishment - a theme so well exploited by the poets, prophets, and philosophers of all ages that it might seem difficult to invest it with new and startling significance. Yet for me he did so, in a torrent of magnificent language which appeared to be both effortless and inexhaustible and ended up with the words I shall always remember: "We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow worm."

By this time I was convinced of it - and my conviction remained unshaken throughout the years that followed. Later he asked ~ Violet Bonham Carter

Tell me you didn't really watch Nausicaa."
Miho tried to keep a serious face, which must have been difficult enough in her flannel Hello Kitty pajamas. But the girl was a terrible liar. She smirked.
"No. Kiki just ended. So much for our Miyazaki marathon."
"We got through two movies," Sakura said. "Tonight, that's a marathon."
They'd wanted to watch movies tonight, just to clear their minds, and had agreed on nothing violent. All three of them loved the films of Miyazaki, who had become perhaps the most successful director in Japan while making only animated films. Kara had vetoed Howl's Moving Castle because she'd seen it too recently, and they had all seen My Neighbor Totoro far too many times, so they had started with Spirited Away. ~ Thomas Randall

Corey couldn't help feeling like he and Angelo were two pieces of the same puzzle. They might have come from different places in the box, upside down and backwards and camouflaged under a cluster of different colors and shapes. But in the end, none of that mattered. As long as the pieces fit... ~ Darien Cox

Letting the religious right teach ID in schools is like letting the Marines teach poetry in advanced combat training. As a scientist, I see these the relevancy between the two sets to be equal. If Kansas is going to mess up like this, the least it can do is not be hypocritical and allow equal time for other alternative "theories" like FSMism, which is by far the tastier choice. ~ Julian Simon

Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. "I had enough," he said coldly. "You got no rights comin' in a colored man's room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus' get out, an' get out quick. If you don't, I'm gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more."
She turned on him in scorn. "Listen, Nigger," she said. "You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?"
Crooks stared helplessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself.
She closed on him. "You know what I could do?"
Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. "Yes, ma'am."
"Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."
Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego--nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, "Yes, ma'am," and his voice was toneless.
For a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move so that she could whip at him again; but Crooks sat perfectly still, his eyes averted, everything that might be hurt drawn in. She turned at last to the other two. ~ John Steinbeck

for December 19 and for a day or two bracketing the ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

I won eight Stanley Cups as a player, and I've been told it's because I played on great teams. I won two as a general manager, and I've been told it's because I was lucky. ~ Serge Savard

Stop! Ok, seriously, how old are you two? You're acting like teenagers instead of old ass immortal men!"

"Well, yea we are kind of old, but we've been around so long, we don't have anything better to do. Living a long time can really turn you into a cranky bitch. Just wait 'till you meet my father. We do all we can to enjoy ourselves. But I'm serious when I need to be."~ Ariadne Phillips and Taznikos Abyssos ~ Yelle Hughes

I liked comedy as a kid. When I was a kid, I'd go to sleep to, like, Bill Cosby albums every night. I'd listen to 'Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow ... Right!' and 'Wonderfulness,' which are two of his most famous albums. Then the next night, I'd flip them over, 'cause it was the old stackable turntable. ~ Stephen Colbert

In 1994, Bill Clinton was forced by Republicans to fire his surgeon general, Joycelyn Elders, for saying - at a UN conference on AIDS - that perhaps schools should teach young students to masturbate. But two years later, her replacement, Audrey F. Manley, went on television to talk about "outercourse" - all the sexually pleasurable activities that one could enjoy without exchanging bodily fluids. And ~ Moira Weigel

Commitment, I finally said. Both people have to be committed. I think if two people are committed to the marriage, if they really want to make it work, then they'll find a way to do it. No matter what happens in life. ~ Nicholas Sparks

No two situations are identical, but with years of experience you can usually find a comparison to something you did before, which shortens the process of deciding how to approach a job. ~ Charlie Kelly

Home, the idea of home, is my principal purpose. If people have bought a house as an investment or chosen the furniture because they'll be able to sell it for more, you can tell in two minutes. You know, our parents didn't buy a house as an investment. They bought it as a place to bring you up, to give you roots. ~ Sister Parish