"With regard to your question about man truly desiring evil, the problem is one of examining the way in which 'evil' is used in your sentence. If 'evil' is intended to mean such things as are undesirable, the answer to your question is obviously 'no'. But this is a trivial truth. If 'evil' is meant to refer to those things to which the desirer feels approval, then it is perfectly possible for 'evil' to be desired.

The problem is that no objective criteria are available to tell us that things are 'evil' or 'good'. Such words serve to show how we feel about things and how we wish to have them considered. I should feel cruelty and mass murder to be evil and I should wish for others to consider them as I do. This does not preclude anyone from desiring both cruelty and mass murder as the behaviour of all men of power and the majority of mankind suggests."

In Dear BR, the letter is incorrectly dated 1962/10/16.