Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Knowing good and truth is useless if one does not actively resist evil.
In plain terms
You know nothing if you understand good but do not fight evil.
What can you take from it?
Apply your knowledge by resisting evil in action.

Where it applies

  • moral decision making
  • self improvement
  • spiritual growth

Putting it to work

  • resist evil
  • act on values
  • practice integrity

Questions to consider

  • How do you act on your values?
  • What evil do you resist?

Another view

Intellectual understanding can be valuable without immediate action.

More from Emanuel Swedenborg

  1. Man knows that love is, but not what it is.

    Permalink to quote #1
  2. All religion relates to life, and the life of religion is to do good.

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. A life of kindness is the primary meaning of divine worship.

    Permalink to quote #4

Related quotes

  1. Virtue is no empty echo.

    Friedrich von SchillerFriedrich von Schiller quote #13
  2. Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promot…

    Albert SchweitzerAlbert Schweitzer quote #15
  3. There is only one good. And that is to act according to your conscience.

    Simone De BeauvoirSimone De Beauvoir quote #28