David Bromwich, Sterling Professor of English at Yale University and author of “The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke,” told Reuters that Burke “never said it.”
“I don't know that anyone famous did, but the misattribution has had a long life,” he added.
One of the most notable attributions of the quote to Burke was by President John F. Kennedy in a speech before Canadian lawmakers in Ottawa, on May 17, 1961 (
here).
“Burke was sometimes exorbitant, but he was never silly; and the thing that strikes you about this saying, on a moment's reflection, is how little sense it makes: the silence of good men isn't the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil. The persons advancing the evil, whether in command or the rank-and-file, must be strong and determined; and the lukewarm must be either cowed into submission or willing to go along because the evil seems to prosper,” Bromwich told Reuters.