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οι πλεονες κακοί [The majority are wicked]

—Bias of Priene

The wickedness was never there—not in the sense it was supposed to be. No fantastic trafficking with the Devil, no black and evil splendour. Just parlour tricks done for money—and human life of no account. That's real wickedness. Nothing grand or big—just petty and contemptible.

—Agatha Christie

But the wicked are like the tossing sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

—Isaiah

A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.

—James Baldwin

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.

—Joseph Conrad

Wilfred Bohun threw one leg over the parapet, and Father Brown had him in a minute by the collar.

“Not by that door,” he said quite gently; “that door leads to hell.”

Bohun staggered back against the wall, and stared at him with frightful eyes.

“How do you know all this?” he cried. “Are you a devil?”

“I am a man,” answered Father Brown gravely; “and therefore have all devils in my heart.”

—G.K. Chesterton