Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “Law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity.”

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Law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke posits that law and arbitrary power are fundamentally opposed, highlighting the conflict between justice and tyranny.

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Jan 1, 1790

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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Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve what they have left; and standing on the firm ground of the British Constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to follow in their desperate flights, the aëronauts of…

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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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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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