Quote #86
If any ask me what a free Government is, I answer, that, for any practical purpose, it is what the people think so, - and that they, and not I, are the natural, lawful, and competent judges of this matter.
More from Edmund Burke
- Liberty, too, must be limited in order to be possessed.
- In effect, to follow, not to force the public inclination; to give a direction, a form, a technical dress, and a specific sanction, to the …
- The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts.
- Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits.
- All who have ever written on government are unanimous, that among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.
- Corrupt influence, which is itself the perennial spring of all prodigality, and of all disorder; which loads us, more than millions of debt…
- By adverting to the dignity of this high calling our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious empire: and have made the mo…
- Taxing is an easy business. Any projector can contrive new impositions, any bungler can add to the old.