On the record
It was the very same animal that at first crawled about in the shape of a caterpillar that you now see rise into the air and expand his wings to the sun.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “It was the very same animal that at first crawled about in the shape of a caterpillar that you now see rise into the air…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke uses the metaphor of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly to illustrate the continuity of change in political entities.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
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
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
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Jan 1, 1790
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…
Other voices in this conversation
