Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “Government was at once to show itself full of virtue and full of force.”

On the record
Government was at once to show itself full of virtue and full of force.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke asserts that government must embody both virtue and strength to be effective.

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More from Edmund Burke

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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Jan 1, 1790

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

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Jan 1, 1790

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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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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