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Quote#Truth

Ideal perfection is not the true basis of English legislation. We…

Quote byWilliam Ewart Gladstone · 1809–1898

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech in the House of Commons (28 February 1884) during a debate on the Representation of the People Bill..

English (original)

Ideal perfection is not the true basis of English legislation. We look at the attainable; we look at the practicable; and we have too much of English sense to be drawn away by those sanguine delineations of what might possibly be attained in Utopia, from a path which promises to enable us to effect great good for the people of England.

— William Ewart Gladstone

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