For we must not deceive ourselves: whatever does not stand with credit cannot stand long.
Edmund Burke: “For we must not deceive ourselves: whatever does not stand with credit cannot stand long.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke cautions against self-deception regarding the sustainability of actions lacking credibility.
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If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
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