“In vain we call old notions fudge,
And bend our conscience to our dealing;
The Ten Commandments will not budge,
And stealing will continue stealing.”

— James Russell Lowell

Motto of the American Copyright League. (Written Nov. 20, 1885).
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

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James Russell Lowell 175

American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat 1819–1891

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