Quote
God save us from those that would do things “for our own good”.
I asked one of the formost “quote guys” over at the American Dialect Society about this. He had never heard of it.
Can you give any context for your cite?
It sounds to me like an interpretation of a quote.
YMMV of course.
I’ve looked through a couple of big dictionaries of quotations and found nothing like that.
You’ve never heard of it? It’s a common enough expression, usually given in the form “God save us from those that would save us from ourselves.” Google “save us from ourselves” or “save me from myself” and you’ll find plenty of examples. I don’t know it it can be traced back to an original quote, though.
This may be a variation of “God, save us from your believers”, which may have originated here. I have no idea whether that poem created the phrase or just used it.
Sorry folks, I have no idea where I heard it or read it.