Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains .. an unuprooted small corner of evil. (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
About This Quote

Since the time of the ancient Greek philosophers, there has been a debate about how to define good and evil. Over the years, there have been many different theories regarding the definition of good and evil. The following quote is taken from Plato’s Republic. This essay can also be found in the book “Are you more of a scientist or an artist?” By John Szwed.

Source: The Gulag Archipelago 19181956

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More Quotes By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  1. The meaning of earthly existence lies not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering but in the development of the soul.

  2. The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. "One word of truth outweighs the world.

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  4. I dedicate this to all those who did not live to tell it. And may they please forgive me for not having seen it all nor remembered it all, for not having divined all of it - from The Gulag Archipelago

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