Good and evil: Great minds think alike through history

Re: “Local leaders must rebuke Trump,” (TNT letter, 8/2).

The writer completes his letter by paraphrasing Edmund Burke, the Anglo-Irish statesman who served as member of Parliament from 1766 to 1794. In essence, the gentleman declared: “Evil triumphs when good people do nothing.”

Well spoken. And the erudite Mr. Burke almost certainly had acquainted himself with Platonian as well as Shakespearian thought. Almost 2200 years before, Plato averred that, “Good people who disregard their civic responsibilities are destined to be ruled by evil people.”

And it was Shakespeare’s fairy-imp, Puck, who drying observed, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

Well, all I can add is: Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose, n’est-ce pas?... the more things change, the more they stay the same, isn’t that so?

This story was originally published August 8, 2019 at 4:20 PM.