Hannah Arendt

On Adolf Eichmann, Hannah Arendt wrote the quote "the banality of evil". George Wilson used the phrase to describe the Committee. (AUDIO: The Conspiracy)

Behind the scenes

Arendt indeed introduced this phrase in her 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. These are the final words of the book. She was responding to Eichmann's apparent lack of guilt for his actions, and claim to no responsibility, as he was simply "doing his job" within the Nazi Party. The Doctor himself would echo her sentiments towards people who give similar excuses, for instance in TV: Bad Wolf.

Her phrase "banality of evil" was further used in PROSE: The Thousand Years of Christmas and This Town Will Never Let Us Go.