Wickedness, is generally considered a synonym for evil or sinfulness. Among theologians and philosophers, it has the more specific meaning of evil committed consciously and of free will.
For example, as characterized by Martin Buber in his 1952 work Bilder von Gut und Böse (translated as Good and Evil: Two Interpretations), "The first stage of evil is 'sin,' occasional directionlessness. Endless possibility can be overwhelming, leading man to grasp at anything, distracting and busying himself, in order to not have to make a real, committed choice. The second stage of evil is 'wickedness,' when caprice is embraced as a deformed substitute for genuine will and becomes characteristic." Wickedness connotes blameworthiness.
Famous quotes containing the word wickedness:
“Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.... The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of their inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is in their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus 7:26.
“Our goodness comes solely from thinking on goodness; our wickedness from thinking on wickedness. We too are the victims of our own contemplation.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)