Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: An excess in this point is not without the reproach of cruelty and inhumanity: if it shows less ferocity than ravage and…

On the record
An excess in this point is not without the reproach of cruelty and inhumanity: if it shows less ferocity than ravage and destruction, it glares with avarice."--Book III. ch. ix. § 165.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke critiques excessive contributions as potentially cruel and greedy, contrasting them with more destructive forms of warfare.

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Unquestionably there was at the Revolution, in the person of King William, a small and a temporary deviation from the strict order of a regular hereditary succession; but it is against all genuine principles of jurisprudence to draw a…

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They have little regard to the obvious consequences of their doctrine, though they may see that it leaves positive authority in very few of the positive institutions of this country.

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Who could conceive that men who are habitually meddling, daring, subtle, active, of litigious dispositions and unquiet minds, would easily fall back into their old condition of obscure contention, and laborious, low, and unprofitable…

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