On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
I reprobate no form of government merely upon abstract principles.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “I reprobate no form of government merely upon abstract principles.”
Editor's note · Context
In his reflections on the French Revolution, Burke states his pragmatic approach to evaluating forms of government, rejecting abstract condemnation.
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If all the absurd theories of lawyers and divines were to vitiate the objects in which they are conversant, we should have no law and no religion left in the world.
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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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The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
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