On the record
I allow, that, if no Supreme Ruler exists, wise to form, and potent to enforce, the moral law, there is no sanction to any contract, virtual or even actual, against the will of prevalent power.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “I allow, that, if no Supreme Ruler exists, wise to form, and potent to enforce, the moral law, there is no sanction to…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke posits that without a Supreme Ruler to enforce moral law, contracts lose their binding nature against prevailing power.
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Jan 1, 1790
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
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.
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
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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