Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: He was astonished at it; he was alarmed at it; he trembled at the uncertainty of all human greatness.

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He was astonished at it; he was alarmed at it; he trembled at the uncertainty of all human greatness.
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Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke expresses his alarm at the unpredictability of human achievements and the fragility of greatness.

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Jan 1, 1790

If kings who did not owe their crown to the choice of their people had no title to make laws, what will become of the statute De tallagio non concedendo? of the Petition of Right? of the act of Habeas Corpus?

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Who could conceive that men who are habitually meddling, daring, subtle, active, of litigious dispositions and unquiet minds, would easily fall back into their old condition of obscure contention, and laborious, low, and unprofitable…

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Who could flatter himself that these men, suddenly, and as it were by enchantment, snatched from the humblest rank of subordination, would not be intoxicated with their unprepared greatness?

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Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.

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