Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “To punish them with lesser penalties would be to debilitate the commonwealth, and make the nation miserable, which it is…”

On the record
To punish them with lesser penalties would be to debilitate the commonwealth, and make the nation miserable, which it is the business of government to render happy and flourishing.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke believes that lesser penalties would weaken the nation and contradict the government's purpose.

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Jan 1, 1790

Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.

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Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.

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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.

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I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.

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