On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
This was reserved to our time, to quench the little glimmerings of reason which might break in upon the solid darkness of this enlightened age.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “This was reserved to our time, to quench the little glimmerings of reason which might break in upon the solid darkness…”
Editor's note · Context
In his critique of the French Revolution, Burke ironically observes how the "enlightened age" paradoxically extinguishes reason.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
Always acting as if in the presence of canonized forefathers, the spirit of freedom, leading in itself to misrule and excess, is tempered with an awful gravity.
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If kings who did not owe their crown to the choice of their people had no title to make laws, what will become of the statute De tallagio non concedendo? of the Petition of Right? of the act of Habeas Corpus?
Jan 1, 1790
By adhering in this manner and on those principles to our forefathers, we are guided, not by the superstition of antiquarians, but by the spirit of philosophic analogy.
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The House of Lords, for instance, is not morally competent to dissolve the House of Commons,--no, nor even to dissolve itself, nor to abdicate, if it would, its portion in the legislature of the kingdom.
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