Woe to the country which would madly and impiously reject the service of the talents and virtues, civil, military, or religious, that are given to grace and to serve it; and would condemn to obscurity everything formed to diffuse lustre and glory around a state!
Burke issues a strong warning against any nation that would fail to utilize the talents and virtues of its citizens for the public good.
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More from Edmund Burke
The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable.
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
The people of England will not ape the fashions they have never tried, nor go back to those which they have found mischievous on trial.
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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