Promise people that they will have a chance of maltreating someone.

The line comes from Huxley’s introduction (dated July 24, 1933) to a collector’s edition of Samuel Butler’s novel "Erewhon". In that prefatory essay, Huxley reflects on how moral campaigns can attract supporters by offering them a socially approved outlet for hostility toward a target.

Huxley is arguing that some people are most easily mobilized for “good causes” when the cause also provides permission to attack someone else while feeling virtuous. The appeal is less about the cause itself and more about the psychological reward of sanctioned aggression.

“The surest way to work up a crusade in favour of some good cause is to promise people that they will have a chance of maltreating someone. Men must be bribed to build up and do good by the offer of an opportunity to hurt and pull down.”