“To try to regulate the internal affairs of a family, the relations of love or friendship, or many other things of the same sort, by law or by the coercion of public opinion, is like trying to pull an eyelash out of a man’s eye with a pair of tongs. They may put out the eye, but they will never get hold of the eyelash”

Source: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873-1874), Ch. 4 : The Doctrine of Liberty in its Application to Morals

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James Fitzjames Stephen 12
Indian judge 1829–1894

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