On the record
Neither the few nor the many have a right to act merely by their will, in any matter connected with duty, trust, engagement, or obligation.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “Neither the few nor the many have a right to act merely by their will, in any matter connected with duty, trust…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke emphasizes the importance of moral obligation over mere will in governance.
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More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
This is the result of all the delusions held out to engage a miserable people in rebellion, murder, and sacrilege, and to make them prompt and zealous instruments in the ruin of their country!
Jan 1, 1790
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Jan 1, 1790
In some people I see great liberty, indeed; in many, if not in the most, an oppressive, degrading servitude.
Jan 1, 1790
They rob only to enable them to cheat; but in a very short time they defeat the ends both of the robbery and the fraud, by making out accounts for other purposes, which blow up their whole apparatus of force and of deception.
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