And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
-Genesis 1:31
Let us say what was the cause of the Creator’s forming the universe. He was good; and in the good no envy is ever generated about anything whatever. Therefore, being free from envy, He desired that all things should, as much as possible, resemble Himself.
-Plato, Timaeus
But is is much more surprising that some even of those who, with ourselves, believe that there is one only source of all things, and that no nature which is not divine can exist unless originated by that Creator, have yet refused to accept with a good and simple faith this so good and simple a reason of the world’s creation, that a good God made it good; and that the things created, being different from God, were inferior to Him, and yet were good, being created by none other than He.
-Augustine, City of God xi.23
