Living law, full of reason, and of equity and justice, (as it is, or it should not exist,) ought to be severe, and awful too,--or the words of menace, whether written on the parchment roll of England or cut into the brazen tablet of Borne, will excite nothing but contempt.
Burke advocates for a living law that embodies reason and justice, warning against mere written threats.
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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.
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…
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
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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