We are dreadfully open to delusion and to dejection; but we are capable of being animated and undeceived.
Edmund Burke: “We are dreadfully open to delusion and to dejection; but we are capable of being animated and undeceived.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke acknowledges the susceptibility of people to deception but also their capacity for enlightenment.
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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.
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
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.





