Nothing but absolute impotence can justify men in not resisting it to the utmost of their ability.
Edmund Burke: “Nothing but absolute impotence can justify men in not resisting it to the utmost of their ability.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that only absolute powerlessness can excuse inaction against tyranny, emphasizing the duty to resist.
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This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
If all the absurd theories of lawyers and divines were to vitiate the objects in which they are conversant, we should have no law and no religion left in the world.
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