On the record
He, who at the present time, is favourable, or even fair, to that system, must act towards it as towards a friend with frailties, who is under the prosecution of implacable foes.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “He, who at the present time, is favourable, or even fair, to that system, must act towards it as towards a friend with…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke suggests that one must treat a flawed monarchy with the same care as a friend facing hostility.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
If kings who did not owe their crown to the choice of their people had no title to make laws, what will become of the statute De tallagio non concedendo? of the Petition of Right? of the act of Habeas Corpus?
Jan 1, 1790
The House of Lords, for instance, is not morally competent to dissolve the House of Commons,--no, nor even to dissolve itself, nor to abdicate, if it would, its portion in the legislature of the kingdom.
Jan 1, 1790
The people of England will not ape the fashions they have never tried, nor go back to those which they have found mischievous on trial.
Jan 1, 1790
By adhering in this manner and on those principles to our forefathers, we are guided, not by the superstition of antiquarians, but by the spirit of philosophic analogy.
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