People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.
Thomas Babington MacaulayRead
To punish a man because we infer from the nature of some doctrine which he holds, or from the conduct of other persons who hold the same doctrines with him, that he will commit a crime, is persecution, and is, in every case, foolish and wicked.
Interpretation
Punishing someone based on assumptions about their beliefs or the actions of others is unjust and immoral.
This quote highlights the dangers of guilt by association and the fallacy of assuming that a person's beliefs will lead them to commit wrongful acts. Macaulay warns that such persecution not only undermines justice but also reveals a foolishness in our reasoning, suggesting we should judge individuals based on their actions rather than their affiliations or doctrines.
In practice
During a discussion on freedom of speech, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding individual beliefs without prejudice.
People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.
There is only one cure for the evils which newly acquired freedom produces, and that cure is freedom.
Such night in England ne'er had been, nor ne'er again shall be.
The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it.
That is the best government which desires to make the people happy, and knows how to make them happy.
The wretch condemn'd with life to part,_x000D_ _x000D_ Still, still on hope relies;_x000D_ _x000D_ And every pang that rends the heart_x000D_ _x000D_ Bids expectation rise.
Language failed me very often, but then, the substitute for me was silence, but not violence.
We all live every day in virtual environments, defined by our ideas.
It's extraordinary how self-obsessed human beings are. The things that people always go on about is, 'tell us about us', 'tell us about the first human being'. We are so self-obsessed with our own history. There is so much more out there than what connects to us.
You have the effrontery to be squeamish, it thought at him. But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape – the great face pressed even closer, so that Wonse was staring into the pitiless depths of his eyes – we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.
The difference between animals and humans is that animals change themselves for the environment, but humans change the environment for themselves.
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