No tyranny is more cruel than the one practiced in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice — when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves.
Charles de Montesquieu
Orion's Cold Fire
All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”― C. S. Lewis
Lewis and Montesquieu must battle it out to see which tyranny deserves more opprobrium. Cruelty versus oppression. Tough call.