Before I read that sermon, I really thought I had lived in a free country; and it was an error I cherished, because it gave me a greater liking to the country I lived in.
Edmund Burke: “Before I read that sermon, I really thought I had lived in a free country; and it was an error I cherished, because it…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke reflects on how a sermon changed his perception of freedom in his country.
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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.
But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.
Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve what they have left; and standing on the firm ground of the British Constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to follow in their desperate flights, the aëronauts of…
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.





