La seule chose nécessaire à la victoire du mal est que les hommes bons ne fassent rien

The attribution of this quote to Edmund Burke has never been verified. No researcher has found these exact words in any of Burke's letters, speeches, or published works. The sentiment loosely echoes themes in his 1770 pamphlet Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, which may explain how his name became attached to it. John Stuart Mill has also been suggested as the origin, but equally without a traceable source. Quote Investigator and other researchers consider the true author unknown. The idea itself is ancient and appears in various forms across centuries of political philosophy — Burke and Mill may simply be the most famous names it has landed on.