All writers on the science of policy are agreed, and they agree with experience, that all governments must frequently infringe the rules of justice to support themselves; that truth must give way to dissimulation, honesty to convenience, and humanity itself to the reigning of interest. The whole of this mystery of iniquity is called the reason of state.
Edmund Burke (1858). “The Inherent Evils of All State Governments Demonstrated; Being a Reprint of ... “A Vindication of Natural Society.” With Notes and an Appendix, Etc”, p.17
