On the record
Our best securities for freedom have been obtained from princes who were either warlike, or prodigal, or both.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “Our best securities for freedom have been obtained from princes who were either warlike, or prodigal, or both.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke claims that freedom has often been secured through the actions of warlike or extravagant rulers, challenging conventional wisdom.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
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.
Jan 1, 1790
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Jan 1, 1790
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.
Jan 1, 1790
Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.
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