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 The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
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Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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I expect that Maugham was lamenting the sacrifice. Otherwise, absolutely, expediency as defined
by appropriateness of proper purpose must govern the essence of principles.
But, oh how we have been abusing the term and what horrible deeds have been justified by "Principles".
There are only a few concepts which deserve to be called principles, the rest are convenient excuses:
for conceit, for encumbrances upon mutual understanding, and for our own stubborn views of the world.
Verbatim
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