This man would be ready to plunge the poniard in the heart of his pupil, or to whet the axe for his neck.
Edmund Burke: “This man would be ready to plunge the poniard in the heart of his pupil, or to whet the axe for his neck.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke warns of the dangers posed by a zealous atheist, emphasizing their potential for violence.
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We procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which Nature teaches us to revere individual men: on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended.
The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable.
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