Political Quotes

Harold J. Laski: He would not, as in the great speech at Bristol (1774), accept the doctrine that a member of Parliament was a mere…

On the record
He would not, as in the great speech at Bristol (1774), accept the doctrine that a member of Parliament was a mere delegate of his constituents rather than a representative of his own convictions.
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Harold J. Laski

Editor's note · Context

Laski defends the idea that a Member of Parliament should represent their own convictions rather than just their constituents' wishes.

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More from Harold J. Laski

He realized that freedom is born of a certain spontaneity for which the rigid lines of doctrinaire thinkers left no room.

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We do not build Utopias; and the attempt to discover the eternal principles of political right invites disaster at the outset.

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There are realms of conduct within which, to be free, I must be permitted to act as I please; to be denied self-expression there, is to be denied freedom.

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But we cannot understand the eighteenth century, or its theories, unless we realize that its temper was still dominantly aristocratic.

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