Quotes: Betrayal
3 quotes on this theme, each with its source and insight
The quotes
“Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.”
Source: The Master and Margarita, Yershalaim narrative (1928–1940) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The line is from Bulgakov’s novel and occurs in dialogue between Yeshua and Pontius Pilate in the Yershalaim episode.
- What remains uncertain
- While verified as Bulgakov’s, the sentence is fictional dialogue; translations vary and a longer exchange in the text modifies the short aphorism.
Bulgakov frames cowardice as the root that enables lies, betrayal, and political complicity. In the Yershalaim episode of The Master and Margarita the line exposes how fear corrodes conscience and lets injustice persist. The sentence appears in the novel’s dialogue, not as a historical saying.
“The flavour of life is love. The salt of life is also love.”
Source: So Long a Letter, p. 64 (English edition) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The wording appears in the English translation of Mariama Bâ’s novel So Long a Letter, within Ramatoulaye’s letter about Daouda Dieng’s return.
- What remains uncertain
- The evidence verifies the line in the English translation; exact phrasing in the French original and translator details require further consultation.
In So Long a Letter Mariama Bâ uses food metaphors to say love both flavors and seasons life: it creates richness and, like salt, makes the ordinary matter. The line comes from Ramatoulaye’s intimate letter, where love is weighed against betrayal, duty and dignity.
“In adultery, there is usually tenderness and self-sacrifice; in murder, courage; in profanation and blasphemy, a certain satanic splendour. Judas elected those offences unvisited by any virtues: abuse of confidence and informing.”
Source: Ficciones, "Three Versions of Judas" (1944) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The passage appears in Borges’s short story and is spoken within the narrative by the fictional theologian Nils Runeberg.
Borges stages a provocative moral argument through a fictional scholar: he contrasts wrongs that carry a certain tragic dignity with betrayal that seems irredeemable. In the story the claim about Judas supports a larger puzzle about sacrifice, interpretation, and whether evil can wear virtues’ masks.