He never robs from the loose superfluity of standing greatness; he devours the fallen, the indigent, the necessitous.
Edmund Burke: “He never robs from the loose superfluity of standing greatness; he devours the fallen, the indigent, the necessitous.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke condemns the exploitation of the vulnerable by those in power.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.
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.





