"The chief beginning of evil is goodness in excess"
About this Quote
Goodness is rarely framed as a gateway drug, which is exactly why Menander’s line lands with such quiet menace. “The chief beginning of evil” doesn’t blame vice, appetite, or ignorance; it indicts the moment virtue stops being a measure and becomes a mania. The phrasing is surgical: not goodness, but “goodness in excess.” The target is moral overflow - the point where kindness becomes indulgence, justice becomes cruelty, piety becomes persecution, generosity becomes enabling. Menander is warning that ethical impulses don’t always fail by collapsing; sometimes they fail by winning too hard.
As a playwright of New Comedy, Menander worked in a world of recognizable domestic stakes: family authority, social reputation, sexual jealousy, money trouble. His audience knew the type: the parent whose “care” becomes control, the friend whose loyalty becomes cover for bad behavior, the moralist whose rectitude turns into a public weapon. In that comic ecosystem, excess is the engine of plot: virtues pushed past their useful limit become the very flaws that trap characters.
The subtext is almost political, too. Post-Classical Athens was living with diminished power and the aftershocks of ideological certainty. “Goodness” can be an alibi for domination; “excess” is where private virtue starts demanding public submission. Menander’s line reads like an early diagnosis of moral overreach: the human tendency to turn a principle into a cudgel, then act surprised when harm follows.
As a playwright of New Comedy, Menander worked in a world of recognizable domestic stakes: family authority, social reputation, sexual jealousy, money trouble. His audience knew the type: the parent whose “care” becomes control, the friend whose loyalty becomes cover for bad behavior, the moralist whose rectitude turns into a public weapon. In that comic ecosystem, excess is the engine of plot: virtues pushed past their useful limit become the very flaws that trap characters.
The subtext is almost political, too. Post-Classical Athens was living with diminished power and the aftershocks of ideological certainty. “Goodness” can be an alibi for domination; “excess” is where private virtue starts demanding public submission. Menander’s line reads like an early diagnosis of moral overreach: the human tendency to turn a principle into a cudgel, then act surprised when harm follows.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by Menander
Add to List
