cannot but
verb1
No past participle, No present participle To have to; to cannot help; to be unable to do otherwise than.
- I cannot but applaud your zeal for preserving the purity of our language, both in its expressions and pronunciation, and in correcting the popular errors several of our States are continually falling into with respect to both.1789, Benjamin Franklin, “Letter to Noah Webster, December 26, 1789”, in E. Sargent, editor, The select works of Benjamin Franklin, published 1855, page 498: