On the record
No government ought to own that it exists for the purpose of checking the prosperity of its people, or that there is such a principle involved in its policy.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “No government ought to own that it exists for the purpose of checking the prosperity of its people, or that there is…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that no government should exist to hinder its people's prosperity.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
Jan 1, 1790
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.
Jan 1, 1790
We procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which Nature teaches us to revere individual men: on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended.
Jan 1, 1790
But the king of Great Britain obeys no other person; all other persons are individually, and collectively too, under him, and owe to him a legal obedience.
Other voices in this conversation
