On the record
Rights, assumed, their consequences of great moment in deciding on their validity, iv. 183.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgRights, assumed, their consequences of great moment in deciding on their validity, iv. 183.
Burke warns about the significant implications of assuming rights without justification.
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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.
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.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.