The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. – Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911

That in man which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment. – R. Buckminster Fuller

It is curious to note the old sea-margins of human thought! Each subsiding century reveals some new mystery; we build where monsters used to hide themselves. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Kavanagh, 1849