Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “They are a nation of placemen; they are a commonwealth without a people; they are a state made up wholly of magistrates.”

On the record
They are a nation of placemen; they are a commonwealth without a people; they are a state made up wholly of magistrates.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke critiques the English in India as a society of officials without a true populace, reflecting on the nature of governance.

Share

More from Edmund Burke

Jan 1, 1790

I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.

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