On the record
I would not wish to excite, or even to tolerate, that kind of evil spirit which evokes the powers of hell to rectify the disorders of the earth.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “I would not wish to excite, or even to tolerate, that kind of evil spirit which evokes the powers of hell to rectify the…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke warns against invoking destructive forces in attempts to correct societal issues.
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Jan 1, 1790
All your sophisters cannot produce anything better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued, who have chosen our nature rather than our speculations, our breasts rather than our inventions, for…
Jan 1, 1790
A few years ago I should be ashamed to overload a matter so capable of supporting itself by the then unnecessary support of any argument; but this seditious, unconstitutional doctrine is now publicly taught, avowed, and printed.
Jan 1, 1790
The ceremony of cashiering kings, of which these gentlemen talk so much at their ease, can rarely, if ever, be performed without force.
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?
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