No, my Lords, this arbitrary power is not to be had by conquest.
Edmund Burke: “No, my Lords, this arbitrary power is not to be had by conquest.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that arbitrary power cannot be legitimately acquired through conquest, highlighting the moral limits of power.
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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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