On the record
The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of the great.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgThe great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of the great.
Burke argues that the powerful must adhere to prudence and virtue, or they risk losing their authority.
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They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.
If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.