April 24, 2025

Generosity is part of my character, and I therefore hasten to assure this government that I will never make an allegation of dishonesty against it whenever a simple explanation of stupidity will suffice.

Leslie Lever (1905-1977), British Labour politician, in Leon Harris, The Fine Art of Political Wit (1964), Jay p.222

Is not stupidity more readily forgiven then dishonesty? Why the fear of admitting to the former? Then again, have you never seen the defense of stupidity invoked when a nefarious intention was patently clear?

Lever must have been a student of philosophy, as this is an excellent example of the application of what is called “Occam’s razor”—accepting the simplest explanation (or rationale in this case) as the correct one. After William of Ockham (1287-1347), English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, Catholic theologian.