As quoted in Art and the Message of the Church (1961) by Walter Ludwig Nathan, p. 120.
“But how shall I excuse it? There are things done which are as holy as the heavens, — which are clear before God as the light of the sun, which leave no stain on the conscience, and which yet the malignity of man can invest with the very blackness of hell!”
Source: The Prime Minister (1876), Ch. 42
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Anthony Trollope 128
English novelist (1815-1882) 1815–1882Related quotes

“I believe in my conscience I intercept many a thought which heaven intended for another man.”
Book VIII, Ch. 2.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)
“If it be heaven toward which we journey, it will be holiness in which we delight”
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 317.
Context: If it be heaven toward which we journey, it will be holiness in which we delight; for if we cannot now rejoice in having God for our portion, where is our meetness for a world in which God is to be all in all forever and forever?

“The present government is a hand stained with blood, which dips a finger in the holy water.”
Book II, X
Napoleon the Little (1852)

"As I Please," Tribune (3 March 1944)<sup> http://alexpeak.com/twr/orwell/quotes/</sup>
As I Please (1943–1947)

The Thirteenth Revelation, Chapter 32

“For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?”
No. 84
The Federalist Papers (1787–1788)
Context: I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers not granted; and, on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?