“ A man full of warm, speculative benevolence may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it, but a good patriot and a true politician always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country. ”
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). copy citation
| Author | Edmund Burke |
|---|---|
| Source | Reflections on the Revolution in France |
| Topic | society benevolence |
| Date | 1790 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Reflections_on_the_Revolution_in_France |
Context
“depart from the mind of an honest reformer. I cannot conceive how any man
can have brought himself to that pitch of presumption to consider his
country as nothing but carte blanche -- upon which he may scribble whatever
he pleases. A man full of warm, speculative benevolence may wish his
society otherwise constituted than he finds it, but a good patriot and a
true politician always considers how he shall make the most of the existing
materials of his country. A disposition to preserve and an ability to
improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Everything
else is vulgar in the conception, perilous in the execution.
There are moments in the fortune of states when particular men are called”
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