“Abstract perfection should always be the direction aimed at by human efforts, however imperfect they may be”

—  Robert Chambers (publisher, born 1802)

Source: Sanitary Economy (1850), p. 17
Context: Abstract perfection should always be the direction aimed at by human efforts, however imperfect they may be; and the success of sanitary legislation will be indicated by the nearness or the distance of its actual practice from this perfect idea.

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Robert Chambers (publisher, born 1802) 100
Scottish publisher and writer 1802–1871

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