Total depravity means the entire absence of holiness, not the highest intensity of sin. A totally depraved man is not as bad as he can be, but he has no holiness, that is, no supreme love of God

Total depravity means the entire absence of holiness, not the highest intensity of sin. A totally depraved man is not as bad as he can be, but he has no holiness, that is, no supreme love of God 

- William G. T. Shedd

Dogmatic Theology

William G. T. Shedd (1820–1894), one of the eminent theologians of his era, was a thoroughgoing Calvinist and church historian. As an Old School Presbyterian he held fast to the Westminster Standards. Shedd appropriated many of the leading intellectual trends of the nineteenth century without sacrificing his commitment to Reformed orthodoxy.