This is enough to irritate even those who have not a spark of bigotry in their constitution to the most desperate enterprises; it certainly will inflame, darken, and render more dangerous the spirit of bigotry in those who are possessed by it.
Edmund Burke: “This is enough to irritate even those who have not a spark of bigotry in their constitution to the most desperate…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke warns that even those without bigotry can be driven to desperate actions by provocation, highlighting the volatility of human emotions.
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Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.
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.
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
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…





