“The decline of the churches was a sweeping social revolution, because they had done more than any other institution, public or private, to civilise Australians.”
A Shorter History of Australia (1994)
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Geoffrey Blainey 72
Australian historian 1930Related quotes

“Fashions have done more harm than revolutions.”

“More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way.”
Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 23 (p. 310)
Context: “What do you want, Blade. Why are you doing this?”
He shrugged, an uncharacteristic action. “There are many evils in the world. I guess I’ve chosen one for my personal crusade.”
“Why such a hatred for priests?”
He didn’t shrug. He didn’t give me a straight answer, either. “If each man picks an evil and attacks it relentlessly, how long can evil persist?”
That was an easy one. Forever. More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way. Few villains think they are villains. But I left him his illusion. If he had one. I doubted he did. No more than a sword’s blade does.

Source: The Natural System of Political Economy (1837), p. 30

After the Revolution? (1970; 1990), Ch. 4 : From Principles to Problems
Source: A History of Economic Thought (1939), Chapter V, Reaction And Revolution, p. 231

To the 1864 general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as quoted in Abraham Lincoln : A History Vol. 6 (1890) by John George Nicolay and John Hay, Ch. 15, p. 324
1860s