Edmund burke quotes evil triumph

An image shared on Facebook claimed that philosopher Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Verdict: False

While this maxim has been attributed to Burke since at least the 1920s, it appears nowhere in his written works and is widely considered spurious.

Fact Check:

In 1961, President John F.

Kennedy spoke before the Canadian Parliament, capping off his speech with a popular expression: “As the great parliamentarian Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.'”

However, this saying, which predates Kennedy’s presidency and continues to be shared to this day, cannot be found in any of Burke’s writings.

According to the website Quote Investigator, the expression was attributed to Burke in the 14th edition of “Bartlett’s Familiar Quot