Dante Aleghieri:

The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.

This quote relates to the play because within the play, Hell is mentioned many times. It shows that the people in the story are going through this moral crisis of witchcraft and accusations, and even within the whole crisis, some are still able to maintain their “neutrality.” This quote is a great explanation and relation to The Crucible.

Blaise Pascal:

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

This quote explains that religious conviction is what makes a person act evil. In The Crucible, the people are convicted of praising the Devil, which is a religious conviction. Then you see that the others are beginning to act evil themselves by inhabiting the Devil and accusing others of doing the same.

Cicero:                        

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

Within the play, some characters are able to choose whether what is going on is actually evil or not. The people accusing one another of being witches or praising the Devil is distinguished differently between characters, but most think it is their own personal evil.

Anais Nin:

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

I think this quote greatly relates to the novel because since the people are so hooked up on religion, it disables them to think for themselves or come up with their own ideas, instead of only believing that the Devil has inhabited them and that they are Devil-worshipers. The fact that they are lying does not come up very often in the play since religion has kept them from thinking that way.

Richard Garriott:         

Chaos and Order are not enemies, only opposites.

In the play, there is so much chaos between the townspeople that it is hard to comply with. This quote shows that they are not enemies, only opposites. Opposites attract sometimes, so perhaps the characters in the story need to work things out since they are not only enemies. Enemies are usually too tough to work together, but opposites can work easily to come to a compromise.

Albert Einstein:

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.

Einstein makes a good point here, since with every difficulty one may face, there is always an opportunity to make things better. Within the story, the people are going through such a tough phase that they need to take the opportunity to end it all and realize what is actually happening.

Albert Schweitzer:      

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.      

This quote shows that those who are able to give themselves up or do a good deed, should not be expecting to be praised. People need to help the others for their own good and own personal pleasure instead of relating to others to praise them for a job well done.

Goethe:

Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.          

This quote greatly relates with the story mainly because the closer they get to ending the whole witchcraft accusations, more and more just keep showing up. The closer they get to closing the case and ignoring what has been happening, they get more clues and more accusations to hurt the current situation even further.

James Russell Lowell:

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.

Within the situation in The Crucible, aspects are given to people to see what they do with them. One can give up and accuse others to take the blame off of them, or they can help the others into creating a diversion to show what is actually going on.

Arthur Miller

      All we are is a lot of talking nitrogen.

This quote by Arthur Miller relates with The Crucible because everyone just keeps opening their mouths to blame someone else or talk about someone else to scapegoat their way out of things. The characters just keep on opening their mouths to make things worse in the situation, and Arthur Miller has a good excuse for this.