On the record
Tell me, my friend, do its terrors appall you into an abject submission, or rouse you to a vigorous defence?
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgTell me, my friend, do its terrors appall you into an abject submission, or rouse you to a vigorous defence?
Burke challenges his audience to respond to the threats posed by tyranny.
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More from Edmund Burke
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.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
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.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.