Political Wisdom in Literature:
"Without they wear the lambskin, within they are wolves;
Their actions are not in accord with their utterance;
these two-nature creatures will swear by the cross,
by the sun and the moon, to steer you astray;
with the sweetest of speeches they swindle their fellows;
they will steal both your substance and soul with their falsehood.
(Attributed to Cynewulf c. 900 A.D. translated by Richard Wilbur.)
C.S. Lewis warned us about people like these, saying: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
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