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Quote#Sadness

Human beings, in their generous endeavour to construct a hypothesis…

Quote byThomas Hardy · 1840–1928

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Return of the Native (1878), Bk. VI, ch. 1.

English (original)

Human beings, in their generous endeavour to construct a hypothesis that shall not degrade a First Cause, have always hesitated to conceive a dominant power of lower moral quality than their own; and, even while they sit down and weep by the waters of Babylon, invent excuses for the oppression which prompts their tears.

— Thomas Hardy

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