Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: And if they who compose the privileged body have not an interest, they must but too frequently have motives of pride…

On the record
And if they who compose the privileged body have not an interest, they must but too frequently have motives of pride, passion, petulance, peevish jealousy, or tyrannic suspicion, to urge them to treat the excluded people with contempt and rigor.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke critiques the motivations of a privileged body that lacks genuine interest in the excluded populace.

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