[That Irishman] and his associates were driven by a desire to make the world a better place; they spoke and wrote robustly of moral conviction, moral energy, the moral force of right. ‘Vigorous’ and ‘energetic’ were adjectives they favoured. In recent times there has been a degradation of liberal vocabulary. Morality was not a ‘Thou shalt not’ but a compelling command for good works. Words, actions, were Jedi lightsabers cutting swathes through an unjust world.
That Irishman, Afterword, p.233.