“There’s too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own free will.”
- September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976
- British
- Author
- The detective novel series (such as “And Then There Were None”) featuring the fictional detectives “Hercule Poirot” and “Miss Marple” became a worldwide hit.
Quote
“There’s too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own free will.”
Explanation
In this quote, Agatha Christie critiques the common tendency to blame higher powers—specifically God—for the evil actions committed by individuals. She suggests that rather than acknowledging human responsibility, people often deflect blame onto divine forces when it comes to suffering or wrongdoing. Christie emphasizes that evil acts are a result of individual choices and free will, not the will of a higher power. This reflects her belief in the moral responsibility of individuals to recognize their actions and not place the consequences of their behavior onto external sources.
Christie’s works often dealt with the complexity of human motives and the moral choices characters make. Her detective stories, such as Murder on the Orient Express or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, reveal how individuals are capable of great good and great evil, driven by their own free will and personal desires. The characters in her novels are rarely victims of fate or divine intervention but are the architects of their own actions, whether driven by greed, jealousy, or desperation. Christie’s perspective on responsibility suggests that humans must confront the consequences of their own choices rather than attributing them to divine will.
In modern society, this quote speaks to the broader conversation about moral accountability and the importance of recognizing the role that human agency plays in the world’s problems. From crime to social injustices, many individuals and societies tend to look for external explanations, such as fate or divine intervention, rather than confronting the fact that much of the harm in the world is caused by human decisions and actions. Christie’s words encourage a more personal reflection on the impact of individual behavior, reminding us that the evils of the world are often the result of human choices and that we must take responsibility for our own actions, rather than absolving ourselves by attributing blame elsewhere.
