Those who raise suspicions of the good, on account of the behaviour of evil men, are of the party of the latter....

A conscientious person would rather doubt his own judgment than condemn his species.

He that accuses all mankind of corruption ought to remember that he is sure to convict only one.

In truth, I should much rather admit those whom at any time I have disrelished the most, to be patterns of perfection, than seek a consolation to my own unworthiness in a general communion of depravity with all about me." This is one of those pieces of rational constancy and mental wholeness in Burke which fill up our admiration for him--one of the manifold illustrations of an invincible fidelity to the natural order and operation of things, even when they seemed most hostile to all that was dear to his own personality..