Quotation
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“The sad truth of the matter is that most evil is done by people who never made up their minds to be or do either evil or good.”
Hannah Arendt · Political philosophy · Modern · 1978
What does it mean?
Most evil, she writes, is done by people who never made up their minds to be or do either evil or good. The harm comes from thoughtlessness, not from a stare into the abyss followed by a choice. A rival reading, thinking of ideologues and sadists, says she understates the people who do decide, and that 'banality' then gets misheard as 'evil is ordinary and therefore fine'. She does not say the harm is trivial. She says a functionary in clichés can do enormous harm without deciding to be a monster.
Did Hannah Arendt really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Arendt's English in the first volume of The Life of the Mind. A shorter version — 'most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil' — drops words. The longer sentence is the one she published.
Where it comes from
The Life of the Mind, 'Thinking' (1978)
Approximate date: 1978.
How to use it
In an office in Whitehall, or in a trust headquarters, look for the person who never decided and is only carrying the file forward. On her account that person is not the innocent contrast to the villain. They are the case. The person who did decide is a different case, not a refutation of this one.
A mindset reading
She wants thinking, the inner dialogue that interrupts automatic compliance, not a new theory of monsters. The sentence gathers the Eichmann report into The Life of the Mind. It does not replace the report.
Understand the philosophy
'Banality of evil' means the evil of someone who cannot think from another's standpoint, not the idea that evil is small. The longer sentence here is the one she published. Shorter versions drop words and sound smoother than she was.
- ethics
- mind
- society
FAQ
What does it mean?
Most evil, she writes, is done by people who never made up their minds to be or do either evil or good. The harm comes from thoughtlessness, not from a stare into the abyss followed by a choice. A rival reading, thinking of ideologues and sadists, says she understates the people who do decide, and that 'banality' then gets misheard as 'evil is ordinary and therefore fine'. She does not say the harm is trivial. She says a functionary in clichés can do enormous harm without deciding to be a monster.
Did Hannah Arendt really say this?
Well attested. Arendt's English in the first volume of The Life of the Mind. A shorter version — 'most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil' — drops words. The longer sentence is the one she published.
Which work is it in?
The Life of the Mind, 'Thinking' (1978) Approximate date: 1978.