If your peace be nothing more than a sullen pause from arms, if their quiet be nothing but the meditation of revenge, where smitten pride smarting from its wounds festers into new rancor, neither the act of Henry the Eighth nor its handmaid of this reign will answer any wise end of policy or justice.
Edmund Burke: “If your peace be nothing more than a sullen pause from arms, if their quiet be nothing but the meditation of revenge…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke warns that a temporary peace achieved through resentment can lead to further conflict and injustice.
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