Agreed

"As we sacrifice a finger to save the body, so we maun sacrifice a man to save the body politic.  I killed him because he was doing evil, and inhumanly preventing what was guid for humanity: the scheme for the slums and the lave.  And I understand that, upon reflection, ye tak the same view."

Angus nodded grimly. "Yes," said Angus, "I take the same view.  Also, I have had the same experience."

"And what's that?" inquired the other.

"I have had daily dealings with a man I thought was doing nothing but evil," answered Angus.  "I still think you were doing evil; even though you were serving truth.  You have convinced me that my beliefs were dreams; but not that dreaming is worse than waking up. You brutally broke the dreams of the humble, sneered at the weak hopes of the bereaved.  You seem cruel and inhuman to me, just as Haggis seemed cruel and inhuman to you.  You are a good man by your own code, but so was Haggis a good man by his code.  He did not pretend to believe in salvation by good works, any more than you pretended to believe in the Ten Commandments.  He was good to individuals, but the crowd suffered; you are good to the crowd and an individual suffered.  But, after all, you also are only an
individual."

Something in the last words, that were said very softly, made the old doctor stiffen suddenly and then start backwards towards the steps behind.  Angus sprang like a wildcat and pinned him to his
place with a choking violence; still talking, but now at the top of his voice.

"Day after day, I have itched and tingled to kill you; and been held back only by the superstition you have destroyed tonight.  Day after day, you have been battering down the scruples which alone defended you from death.  You wise thinker; you wary reasoner; you fool!  It would be better for you to-night if I still believed in God and in his Commandment against murder. One thing alone protected you and kept the peace between us: that we disagreed.  Now we agree, now we are at one in thought—and deed, I can do as you would do.  I can do as you have done.  We are at peace."


—G. K. Chesterton, The Paradoxes of Mr Pond.

Legislating Morality

If God preserves them in His laws, they will find out easily enough what legislation is in general necessary. Otherwise, they will spend their whole time making and correcting detailed regulations, always expecting thereby to achieve perfection. That is, they will lead lives like invalids who lack the restraint to give up a vicious way of life, but expect the doctor to cure them with no effort on their part.

The State whose prospective rulers come to their duties with the least enthusiasm is bound to have the best and most tranquil government, and the state whose rulers are eager to rule, the worst. Men whose life is impoverished and destitute of personal satisfaction hope to snatch some compensation for their own inadequacy from a political career. They start fighting for power, and the consequent internal and domestic conflicts ruin both them and society.

—Plato, The Republic.