On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
Governments must be abused and deranged indeed, before it can be thought of; and the prospect of the future must be as bad as the experience of the past.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “Governments must be abused and deranged indeed, before it can be thought of; and the prospect of the future must be as…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke asserts that the idea of resisting government should only arise after severe and prolonged misrule, when both past experience and future outlook are dire.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
Who could flatter himself that these men, suddenly, and as it were by enchantment, snatched from the humblest rank of subordination, would not be intoxicated with their unprepared greatness?
Jan 1, 1790
Their objects would be enlarged with their elevation; but their disposition, and habits, and mode of accomplishing their designs must remain the same.
Jan 1, 1790
The people of England will not ape the fashions they have never tried, nor go back to those which they have found mischievous on trial.
Jan 1, 1790
If kings who did not owe their crown to the choice of their people had no title to make laws, what will become of the statute De tallagio non concedendo? of the Petition of Right? of the act of Habeas Corpus?
Other voices in this conversation
