Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “But if I see the very same beginnings which have commonly ended in great calamities, I ought to act as if they might…”

On the record
But if I see the very same beginnings which have commonly ended in great calamities, I ought to act as if they might produce the very same effects.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke argues that recognizing early signs of trouble should prompt caution based on historical outcomes.

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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…

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The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.

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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.

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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.

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