When they clash, their opposition serves only to degrade the authority that ought to predominate, and to exalt the power that ought to be dependent.
Edmund Burke: “When they clash, their opposition serves only to degrade the authority that ought to predominate, and to exalt the power…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke reflects on the relationship between authority and power, emphasizing the consequences of their conflict.
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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.
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.
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…
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.





