On the record
It must be shown that it is right, though imperfect,--that it is not only by possibility susceptible of improvement, but that it contains in it a principle tending to its melioration.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “It must be shown that it is right, though imperfect,--that it is not only by possibility susceptible of improvement, but…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke insists that it must be demonstrated that a political system is not only capable of improvement but also contains a principle for it.
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Jan 1, 1790
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…
Jan 1, 1790
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
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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 imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
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