“Things and actions are what they are, and the consequences of them will be what they will be: why, then, should we desire to be deceived?”

—  Matthew Arnold

Joseph Butler, Human Nature and Other Sermons, "Sermon VII" as quoted in Arnold's "St. Paul and Protestantism" (1870).
Misattributed

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Matthew Arnold166
English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector… 1822–1888

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