Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “Ought we, like madmen, to tear off the plasters that the lenient hand of prudence had spread over the wounds and gashes…”

On the record
Ought we, like madmen, to tear off the plasters that the lenient hand of prudence had spread over the wounds and gashes which in our delirium of ambition we had given to our own body?
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke uses a metaphor to argue against exacerbating past wounds instead of healing them.

Share

More from Edmund Burke

Jan 1, 1790

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.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve what they have left; and standing on the firm ground of the British Constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to follow in their desperate flights, the aëronauts of…

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation