“To punish public outrages on morals and religion is unquestionably within the competence of rulers. But when a government, not content with requiring decency, requires sanctity, it oversteps the bounds which mark its proper functions. And it may be laid down as a universal rule that a government which attempts more than it ought will perform less.”

—  Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay

"Leigh Hunt" (1841), in Critical...Essays 2:509
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Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay photo
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay101
British historian and Whig politician 1800–1859

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