Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

The line contrasts two kinds of governmental failure: visible “faults” committed while actively trying to help people, versus invisible “omissions” that result from doing nothing. It argues that a humane, charitable state may sometimes make mistakes in the course of intervention, but those errors are morally preferable to a cold, indifferent government whose consistency consists in neglect. The imagery of being “frozen in the ice” frames indifference as not merely passive but actively deadening—an ethical paralysis. As a political principle, it defends energetic public action (especially social relief) against critics who focus on bureaucratic missteps, insisting that compassion and responsiveness are the higher standard by which government should be judged.