That he may secure some liberty, he makes a surrender in trust of the whole of it.
Edmund Burke: “That he may secure some liberty, he makes a surrender in trust of the whole of it.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke posits that to gain a measure of liberty within society, individuals must entrust their entire liberty to the collective.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
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.
Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
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.





