Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “Contending for an imaginary power, we begin to acquire the spirit of domination, and to lose the relish of honest…”

On the record
Contending for an imaginary power, we begin to acquire the spirit of domination, and to lose the relish of honest equality.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke critiques the pursuit of imaginary power, which leads to a loss of genuine equality.

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More from Edmund Burke

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…

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Jan 1, 1790

They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.

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Jan 1, 1790

But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.

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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.

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