“But now persecution is good, because it exists; every law which originated in ignorance and malice, and gratifies the passions from whence it sprang, we call the wisdom of our ancestors: when such laws are repealed, they will be cruelty and madness; till they are repealed, they are policy and caution.”

—  Sydney Smith

Peter Plymley's Letters (1808), Letter V

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Sydney Smith 68
English writer and clergyman 1771–1845

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