Hannah Arendt
Banality of evil, political theory
Sayings by Hannah Arendt
The greatest danger for totalitarianism is freedom of thought.
The greatest evil is not what is done by radicals, but what is done by normal people.
The most important political event of the twentieth century was the rise of totalitarianism.
The human condition is a condition of plurality.
The only antidote to the banality of evil is the faculty of thinking.
The most striking difference between ancient and modern political thought is that the ancients believed in the possibility of a perfect state, while the moderns do not.
The only way to escape the banality of evil is to think.
The greatest danger for man is not to be evil, but to be thoughtless.
The only way to prevent evil is to think.
The most important political question of our time is the question of how to prevent totalitarianism.
The essence of totalitarianism is terror.
The most terrifying aspect of totalitarianism is not its cruelty, but its normality.
The greatest evil is not what is done by bad people, but what is done by good people who are thoughtless.
The only way to resist totalitarianism is to think.
The most dangerous thing in the world is not to think.
The only way to be human is to think.
The greatest human faculty is the faculty of thinking.
The most important thing in life is to think.
The only way to live a meaningful life is to think.
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.