Of evil in the pure state it is impossible to speak. […] The sovereign hypothesis, the hypothesis of evil, is that man is not good by nature, not because he might be said to be bad, but because he is perfect as he is.

In this way every detail of the world is perfect if it is not referred to some larger set. / In this way everything is perfect if it is not referred to its idea. / In this way the nothing is perfect since it is set against nothing. / And in this way evil is perfect when left to itself, to its own evil genius.

Evil is a confused, impenetrable idea. It is enigmatic in its very essence.

Now, a tiny confused idea is always greater than a very big idea that is absolutely clear. […] This impossibility of thinking evil is matched only by the impossibility of imagining death.

Good is transparent: you can see through it. / Evil, by contrast, shows through: it is what you see when you see through. Or alternatively, evil is the first hypothesis, the first supposition.