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There is a concept that is the corrupter and destroyer of all others. I speak not of Evil, whose limited empire is that of ethics; I speak of the infinite.
Jorge Luis Borges
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Borges highlights the idea that concepts beyond the ethical realm can have limitless and potentially destructive influence.

In this quote, Jorge Luis Borges contemplates the power of abstract concepts that extend beyond conventional notions of good and evil. He implies that while evil is confined to ethical considerations, there are infinite ideas that can corrupt and destroy our understanding and perception of reality. This exploration invites us to consider the profound impact that intangible forces can have on our lives and society.

Themes

CorruptionInfinityConceptsPhilosophyEthics

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the nature of evil and its implications in society, this quote can provide a deeper perspective.

More from Jorge Luis Borges

You can't measure time by days, the way you measure money by dollars and cents, because dollars are all the same while every day is different and maybe every hour as well.
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To say good-bye is to deny separation; it is to say Today we play at going our own ways, but we'll see each other tomorrow. Men invented farewells because they somehow knew themselves to be immortal, even while seeing themselves as contingent and ephemeral.
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The execution was set for the 29th of March, at nine in the morning. This delay was due to a desire on the part of the authorities to act slowly and impersonally, in the manner of planets or vegetables.
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This felicitous supposition declared that there is only one Individual, and that this indivisible Individual is every one of the separate beings in the universe, and that these beings are the instruments and masks of divinity itself.
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A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.
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Let neither tear nor reproach besmirch this declaration of the mastery of God who, with magnificent irony, granted me both the gift of books and the night.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead

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