Earliest attribution, via Quote Investigator, is that this comes from a guy named Anselm Batbie, quoted by Jules Clariete, attributing the… — Earliest attribution, via Quote Investigator, is that this comes from a guy named Anselm Batbie, quoted by Jules Clariete, attributing the idea to Edmund Burke. The formulation that’s most relevant to my own political framework comes from a 1977 pamphlet, and was attributed to Benajmin Disraeli: “ A man who…