On the record
Whoever, with his hands in a supplicating posture, is ready with his life and property, what necessity can there be for him to be dealt with in this way?
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “Whoever, with his hands in a supplicating posture, is ready with his life and property, what necessity can there be for…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke questions the necessity of force against those who are submissive and vulnerable.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
Jan 1, 1790
No experience has taught us that in any other course or method than that of an hereditary crown our liberties can be regularly perpetuated and preserved sacred as our hereditary right.
Jan 1, 1790
But supposing they had ranked as they ought to do, and as with us they do actually, the sides of sick-beds are not the academies for forming statesmen and legislators.
Jan 1, 1790
The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable.
Other voices in this conversation
