When you say that you agree to a thing on principle, you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
Source: In Quotable Business, ed. Louis E. Boone, 1992.
-- Otto von Bismarck, (Apr 1 1815-1898), German statesman; The Iron Chancellor, 1870-90, unified the German states into one empire under Prussian leadership.