On the record
But honesty only, and not arbitrary power, is necessary for that purpose.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgBut honesty only, and not arbitrary power, is necessary for that purpose.
Burke asserts that honesty is essential for governance, rejecting the notion that arbitrary power is needed.
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The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
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.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
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.