Oliver Cromwell, letter to Walter Dundas, 12 September 1650; this is also a recent misattribution.
Misattributed
“Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk. It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it.”
Letter to Walter Dundas (12 September 1650)
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Oliver Cromwell 49
English military and political leader 1599–1658Related quotes
Diogenes of Sinope, as quoted in Pearls of Thought (1882), edited by Maturin Murray Ballou, p. 22
Misattributed
“Do not reproach a man with his misfortunes, fearing lest Nemesis may overtake you.”
As quoted by Diogenes Laërtius, i. 78.
Truth, vii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIX - Truth and Convenience
“Lest men suspect your tale untrue,
Keep probability in view.”
Fable, The Painter who pleased Nobody and Everybody
Fables (1727)
Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse, H. J. C. Grierson and G. Bullough, eds. (1934) Oxford University Press.
The Rubaiyat (1120)
Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation (1553), Book Two, Section XVI