As I See Religion (1932)
Variant: Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.
“I do not advocate burning your ship to get rid of the cockroaches.”
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) English biologist and comparative anatomist
Said in reference to those who wished to abolish all religious teaching, rather than freeing state education from Church controls, in Critiques and Addresses (1873) p. 90
1870s
“We must not burn down the house to kill the rats.”
Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) mid-20th-century Governor of Illinois and Ambassador to the UN
Voicing opposition to the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950
Context: The whole notion of loyalty inquisitions is a national characteristic of the police state, not of democracy. The history of Soviet Russia is a modern example of this ancient practice. I must, in good conscience, protest against any unnecessary suppression of our rights as free men. We must not burn down the house to kill the rats.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1950s, Loving Your Enemies (Christmas 1957)
Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French politician
Actually said by Charles de Gaulle, on leaving his presidency, Life, May 9, 1969.
Misattributed
Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) eighteenth President of the French Republic
Attributed to de Gaulle by Romain Gary, Life, May 9, 1969
Fifth Republic and other post-WW2
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
Actually said by Charles de Gaulle, on leaving his presidency, as quoted inLife' (9 May 1969)
Misattributed
