Political Quotes

On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
A cheap, bloodless reformation, a guiltless liberty, appear flat and vapid to their taste.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Continuing his critique of revolutionary fervor, Burke suggests that some revolutionaries disdain peaceful reform and liberty, preferring dramatic and violent change.

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They look on the frame of their commonwealth, such as it stands, to be of inestimable value; and they conceive the undisturbed succession of the crown to be a pledge of the stability and perpetuity of all the other members of our…

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By adhering in this manner and on those principles to our forefathers, we are guided, not by the superstition of antiquarians, but by the spirit of philosophic analogy.

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