Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “The only thing which occurs to such a man, when he has got a business for others into his hands, is, how to make his own…”

On the record
The only thing which occurs to such a man, when he has got a business for others into his hands, is, how to make his own fortune out of it.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke discusses the self-serving nature of individuals in positions of power.

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Jan 1, 1790

I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…

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Jan 1, 1790

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.

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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.

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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.

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