On the record
Very dissonant are a gentle country and cruel laws; very dissonant, that your reason is furious, but your passions moderate, and that you are always equitable except in your courts of justice.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “Very dissonant are a gentle country and cruel laws; very dissonant, that your reason is furious, but your passions…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke highlights the discord between a compassionate society and harsh legal systems.
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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
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.
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
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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