On the record
I conceived that the contest, once begun, could not be laid down again, to be resumed at our discretion, but that our first struggle with this evil would also be our last.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “I conceived that the contest, once begun, could not be laid down again, to be resumed at our discretion, but that our…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke asserts that the struggle against the faction is a decisive and final one, not to be taken lightly.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
Do they mean to attaint and disable backwards all the kings that have reigned before the Revolution, and consequently to stain the throne of England with the blot of a continual usurpation?
Jan 1, 1790
The people of England will not ape the fashions they have never tried, nor go back to those which they have found mischievous on trial.
Jan 1, 1790
They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
Jan 1, 1790
The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable.
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