Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “We may as well think of rocking a grown man in the cradle of an infant.”

On the record
We may as well think of rocking a grown man in the cradle of an infant.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke uses a metaphor to illustrate the absurdity of trying to maintain old structures in a grown society.

Share

More from Edmund Burke

Jan 1, 1790

I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…

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

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

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation