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Quote by Criss Jami

“A man can easily be stupid without being evil, but never, in even the most profound genius, is a man evil without in some way being stupid.”

Quote by Criss Jami

Author

Criss Jami
Criss Jami

Criss Jami is a contemporary poet known for his profound philosophical thoughts and unique poetic style. Born on May 29, 1987, he has shown a passion for literature and philosophy from a young age, which is evident in his works. more

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“Nothing is shallower than the belief that a love which leads to sin is always qualitatively lower—more animal or more trivial—than one which leads to faithful, fruitful and Christian marriage. The love which leads to cruel and perjured unions, even to suicide-pacts and murder, is not likely to be wandering lust or idle sentiment. It may well be Eros in all his splendour; heart-breakingly sincere; ready for every sacrifice except renunciation.”

“I don’t kill people in large numbers like you did. People that never raised a hand at you,” I said, full of disgust. “You weren’t forced to kill. You loved to kill. Your sadism was contagious, like an infectious disease. It knows no bounds. You break people, you put them together broken, and they become your shadow long after you’re dead. Your wickedness infects one generation after another. You’re the true face of evil.” I stepped forward. He stepped back. His furry hooves clacked on the floor. He appeared uglier now that I could scan the whole of his body. Top half a soldier with the face blown off; the bottom half a goat. What a sight. This was his form in the afterlife.”

“Evil: if I had encountered it before then it was so well disguised that I saw it as something else – an old woman walking alone down a track crying; a distant plume of smoke from a village in the hills; dead-eyed soldiers stepping down a road in silence – banal details of its hidden tread. Even the killings I had seen so far seemed no more than the brutish product of the war’s rationale: men did bad things – it was in their nature. Words like ‘wicked’ and ‘evil’ had a medieval ring to them, a throwback to superstition and the histrionics of the pulpit. I have no personal God and mostly feel in no position to judge individual actions as either ‘good’ or ‘evil’. Yet I am certain that what I witnessed at times in Vareš was more than mere wrongdoing.”