A great empire and little minds go ill together.
Edmund BurkeRead
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Interpretation
Inaction in the face of wrongdoing allows evil to prevail.
This quote highlights the moral obligation of individuals to take action against injustice. It suggests that passive acceptance or inaction by those who have the capacity to act allows harmful forces to gain power, thereby underscoring the importance of courage and responsibility in maintaining a just society.
In practice
In a speech addressing community responsibility, one might say, 'Remember, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.'
A great empire and little minds go ill together.
To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.
The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.
Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling; it never forgives preaching of a new gospel.
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.
For the first time I heard shots fired in anger, heard bullets strike flesh or whistle through the air.
I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptation. It is not serious, provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience, etc., don't get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time...The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give up.
You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap? There's an animal kind of trick. A human would remain in the trap, endure the pain, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind.
Fear is a greater evil than evil itself.
I call upon those who love freedom to stand with us now. Together we shall achieve victory.
I saw the bombs, and, like a kid, I looked back at them. Instantly there was fire everywhere.
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