January 17, 2010

#66

Evil’s greatest guile is its transformation into a domestic, secret god, a comforting presence on the hearth.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 34

2 comments:

  1. The original Spanish is:

    La mayor astucia del mal es su mudanza en dios doméstico y secreto, cuya hogareña presencia reconforta.

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  2. Cf. Notas, p. 220:

    "All of evil's ability lies in transforming itself into a discrete domestic god, whose presence is no longer disquieting."

    This early version of the aphorism is prefaced by a paragraph on the effect of evil on the soul:

    "The vices we acquire tansform the moral universe in which we used to live. We begin to forgive actions which we would have condemned before; the inocuousness of those vices that seduce us seems obvious to us and, in that way, a new innocence invades new territories. Familiarity with vice invests it with the humble, gray habit of quotidian, insignficant actions. The universe of a diabolically vicious man would be have a deplorably trivial quality and a deplorably routine innocence."

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