On the record
Darkness and silence are excellent for knaves and tyrants; but the attempt to command the one or the other in the North, changes the knave to an imbecile and the tyrant to a fool.
Said by
Henry Ward Beecher
Source
gutenberg.orgHenry Ward Beecher: “Darkness and silence are excellent for knaves and tyrants; but the attempt to command the one or the other in the North…”
Editor's note · Context
Beecher argues that oppressive forces thrive in darkness, while truth and justice flourish in the light.
Share
More from Henry Ward Beecher
Mariners might as well blame you for the swing and toss of their craft when tides troop in or march out of your harbor, as us, for heaving to that tide which God swells under us.
It will go on to a crisis; its settlement will be an era in the world's history, either of advance or of decline.
They did not know enough of his origin, his nature, or his destiny, to bring these into account, in estimating man.
If he must stand by what he is, how surely must he be given over to weakness, to abuse, to oppressions.