Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Russia
11 Dec 1918 // 3 Aug 2008
Writer

The Line Separating Good and Evil

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.

Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (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, in 'The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956'
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
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