On the record
We are the expert artists, we are the skilful workmen, to shape their desires into perfect form, and to fit the utensil to the use.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “We are the expert artists, we are the skilful workmen, to shape their desires into perfect form, and to fit the utensil…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke likens policymakers to skilled artisans who must shape public desires into effective solutions.
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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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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.
Jan 1, 1790
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.
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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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