When I say, that we of the people ought to be informed, inclusively I say, we ought not to be flattered; flattery is the reverse of instruction.
Edmund Burke: “When I say, that we of the people ought to be informed, inclusively I say, we ought not to be flattered; flattery is the…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke emphasizes the importance of honest information over flattery for the public's understanding.
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I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
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.
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.
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…





