I don't believe in devils. Indifference and misunderstandings can create evil situations. Most of the time, people who appear to be evil are really victims of evil deeds.
Interpretation
Evil often arises from indifference and misunderstanding, rather than from a malicious intent.
In this quote, Max Von Sydow suggests that the concept of evil is often misunderstood; rather than being inherent in individuals, it frequently stems from societal indifference and a lack of understanding. People's actions may appear evil, but they can often be victims of unfortunate circumstances themselves, highlighting the importance of empathy and deeper awareness in human interactions.
In practice
During a lecture on ethics, this quote can be used to illustrate the complex nature of human behavior.
Film acting, if you don't play the lead, you come, and you do your scenes in a few days, and you act with a couple of colleagues. All the rest of the actors you never see, and you don't even meet many of them. And you don't know what will happen with what you've done. Maybe it will be in the film, maybe it will not.
What is important, I think, is to reach as many people as you can and do it as well as you can. Reach them and inspire them or amuse them, or maybe in some odd moments help them to discover something they hadn't thought of before.
The more I had to act like a saint, the more I felt like being a sinner.
It's not a matter of learning lines. It's a matter of getting into the ideas and the will of the person. It's a matter of, 'What does he want to do? What does he want to achieve?'
The whole universe is composed of name and form. Whatever we see is either a compound of name and form, or simply name with form which is a mental image.
The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and Latinos as largely disposable.
He who says there is no such thing as an honest man, you may be sure is himself a knave.
I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.
Our judgements of good and evil ... presuppose God as the standard. If there's no God, there's neither good nor evil. There's just nature doing what it does
No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.