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I think there are a number of reasons to think that good is a real thing, even that good is the real thing, and that evil doesn't really exist. Firstly, no one ever does evil for the sake of evil, but only for the sake of some good, but people sometimes, though perhaps rarely, do good for the sake of good itself. Even if people are doing evil just for the pleasure of doing evil, they're still doing evil for the sake of a good, because pleasure is a good. Secondly, good is a prerequisite for doing evil. The attributes of a being which allow it to do evil -- its power, its intelligence, even its existence -- are all in themselves goods. It's just like a knife used in a murder -- even though it is being used for evil purposes, it can still be a good knife.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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