On the record
But the most favorable laws can do very little towards the happiness of a people, when the disposition of the ruling power is adverse to them.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “But the most favorable laws can do very little towards the happiness of a people, when the disposition of the ruling…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that favorable laws are ineffective if the ruling power is not supportive of the people's happiness.
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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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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…
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They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
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