Political Quotes

On the record
It has been his ambition and his policy to reconcile the vanquished to his fortune, to show that they had gained by the change, to convert their momentary suffering into a long benefit, and to draw from the humiliation of his enemies an accession to his own glory.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke discusses the ambition of conquerors to win the loyalty of the vanquished by presenting their defeat as beneficial.

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