It is for us at present to recollect what we have been, and to consider what, if we please, we may be still.
Edmund Burke: “It is for us at present to recollect what we have been, and to consider what, if we please, we may be still.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke emphasizes the importance of reflecting on past achievements and future possibilities.
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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.
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.
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
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.





