13 Quotes by Tzvetan Todorov

We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know where good and evil are to be found.

It seems that, once introduced into public life, evil easily perpetuates itself, whereas good is always difficult, rare, and fragile. And yet possible.

Toutes les opinions ne se valent pas, et il ne faut pas confondre l'éloquence d'une parole avec la justesse d'une pensée.

Hay formas de comportarse con dignidad moral incluso en circunstancias extremas

For evil to take place, the acts of a few people are not sufficient; the great majority also has to remain indifferent. That is something of which we are all quite capable.

People who believe themselves to be the incarnation of good have a distorted view of the world.

The fear of barbarians is what risks making us barbarians.

Every human being needs a set of norms and rules, traditions and customs, transmitted from the older to the younger; without those norms, the individual would never achieve the fullness of his humanity, but would be reduced to the condition of the ‘Wild Child”, condemned to anomie, in other words to the absence of all law and all order- an absence that can create severe disturbances.

It is no longer necessary to resort to the power of a state in order to inflict heavy losses on your enemy, since a few highly motivated individuals with even a minimum of financial resources are enough.“Hostile Forces” have completely changed their appearance.