On the record
It may be so; but we know, if feeling is evidence, that our fault was more tolerable than our attempt to mend it, and our sin far more salutary than our penitence.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “It may be so; but we know, if feeling is evidence, that our fault was more tolerable than our attempt to mend it, and…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that their past faults were less harmful than the attempts to correct them, suggesting a preference for tolerance over harsh measures.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
Jan 1, 1790
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
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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