Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.

The line asserts that moral truth is not determined by popularity: an action or belief remains unethical even if it is widely accepted. Attributed to Tolstoy, it resonates strongly with his later ethical and religious writings, where he criticizes social conformity, state violence, and institutionalized injustice (especially when endorsed by “respectable” society). The aphorism functions as a warning against substituting consensus for conscience, urging individuals to judge right and wrong by principled standards rather than by the comfort of belonging to the majority.