Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “Rights, assumed, their consequences of great moment in deciding on their validity, iv. 183.”

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Rights, assumed, their consequences of great moment in deciding on their validity, iv. 183.
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Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

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.

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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.

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They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.

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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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