As a life of absolute license tends to turn men into savages, the other extreme of constraint operates much in the same manner: it reduces them to the same ignorance, but leaves them nothing of the savage spirit.
Burke compares the extremes of freedom and constraint, suggesting both can lead to ignorance and loss of spirit.
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More from Edmund Burke
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
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.
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