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About this quote

What does it mean?
Dependence on government creates vulnerability when resources shrink.
In plain terms
Relying on state support turns to resentment when scarce.
What can you take from it?
Dependence breeds resentment under pressure.

Where it applies

  • welfare discussions
  • resource scarcity
  • public trust

Putting it to work

  • designing sustainable aid
  • managing expectations

Questions to consider

  • How much support is too much?
  • Can aid create dependency?

Another view

Support systems can coexist with self-reliance.

More from Edmund Burke

  1. Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference.

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  2. Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral co…

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  3. Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

    Permalink to quote #31

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